ire
/aɪ.ɚ/noun, verb
ire is spelled I-R-E: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting IRE, the name). As a noun, ire means “Great anger; wrath; keen resentment” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ire?
| Letters | 3: I-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ire?
Ire appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes IRE, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ire?
- US /aɪ.ɚ/
- UK /aɪ.ə(ɹ)/
Ire has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ire.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ire?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ire from its last stressed vowel (/aɪəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rei, eir.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ire
- ires present, singular, he/she/it
- iring participle, present
- ired participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ire mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Great anger; wrath; keen resentment.
to raise the ire of someone
- 2
obsoleteIron.
verb
- 1
rareTo anger, to irritate.
I heard enough from the gentleman who has just taken his seat, and from my friend, Dr. Caldwell, to ire me just a little bit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ire in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense great anger:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ire come from?
From Middle English ire, from Old French ire (“ire”), from Latin īra (“wrath, rage”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eysh₂- (“to fall upon, act sharply”) (compare Old English ofost (“haste, zeal”), Old Norse eisa (“to race forward”), Ancient Greek ἱερός (hierós, “supernatural, holy”), οἶστρος (oîstros, “frenzy; gadfly”), Avestan 𐬀𐬈𐬯𐬨𐬀 (aesma, “anger”), Sanskrit इष् f (iṣ, “refreshment, strength”)). Compare also Middle English irre, erre (“anger, wrath”), from Old English yrre, ierre, eorre (“anger, wrath”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).