siren
/ˈsaɪɹən/noun, verb, adjective
siren is spelled S-I-R-E-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, siren means “One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of siren is sirens or sirenes.
How many letters and syllables are in siren?
| Letters | 5: S-I-R-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.9 times per million words; the 15,798th 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 siren?
Siren appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce siren?
- UK /ˈsaɪəɹən/
- US /ˈsaɪɹən/
Siren has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-siren.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with siren?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as siren from its last stressed vowel (/aɪɹən/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: risen, resin, rinse, reins, serin.
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 siren
- sirens plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sirenes plural
- sirening participle, present
- sirened participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does siren mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.
- 2
One who sings sweetly and charms.
- 3
A dangerously seductive woman.
- 4
A member of Sirenia, an order of mammals.
- 5
A member of a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae, commonly used for all species in the family Sirenidae.
- 6
Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Hestina.
- 7
A device, either mechanical or electronic, that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device.
- 8
A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).
verb
- 1
To make a noise with, or as if with, a siren.
- 2
To drive with a siren on.
adjective
- 1
Relating to or like a siren.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Siren in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 siren come from?
From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).