street sweeper

/ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ/

//ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ// noun

"street-sweeper" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“street sweeper” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who is employed to sweep streets, pavements, and gutters, keeping them clear of litter.

Key facts for street sweeper
PropertyValue
Headwordstreet sweeper
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ/
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “street sweeper” sits in English frequency

street sweeper falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

street sweeper is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for street sweeper in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is street sweeper, spelled S-T-R-E-E-T- -S-W-E-E-P-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who is employed to sweep streets, pavements, and gutters, keeping them clear of litter.
  2. 2
    A machine used to sweep streets.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "street sweeper"?
"street sweeper" is spelled S-T-R-E-E-T- -S-W-E-E-P-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ/.
What does "street sweeper" mean?
As a noun, "street sweeper" means: A person who is employed to sweep streets, pavements, and gutters, keeping them clear of litter.
How do you pronounce "street sweeper"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "street sweeper" is /ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "street sweeper" come from?
"street sweeper" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “street sweeper”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-T-R-E-E-T- -S-W-E-E-P-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list