wire
/ˈwaɪɚ/noun, verb
wire is spelled W-I-R-E: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 27 times per million words in written English, the 3,422nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, wire means “Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wire is wires.
How many letters and syllables are in wire?
| Letters | 4: W-I-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 27 times per million words; the 3,422nd 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 wire?
Wire appears 27 times per million words in written English, the 3,422nd 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 wire?
- UK /waɪə(ɹ)/
- US /ˈwaɪɚ/
- Canada /waɪ(ə)ɹ/
Wire 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: En-us-wire.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with wire?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as wire from its last stressed vowel (/aɪəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: weir.
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 wire
- wires plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- wiring participle, present
- wired participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wire mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.
Holonyms: cable; wire rope; wiring harness; wire wool
- 2
A piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable.
- 3
A metal conductor that carries electricity.
That wire powers the lamp.
- 4
A fence made of usually barbed wire.
- 5
A finish line of a racetrack.
- 6
informalA telecommunication wire or cable.
- 7
An electric telegraph; a telegram.
- 8
slangA hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence.
verb
- 1
To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing.
We need to wire that hole in the fence.
- 2
To string on a wire.
wire beads
- 3
To equip with wires for use with electricity.
Do you know how to wire a plug?
- 4
To add (something) into a system (especially an electrical system) by means of wiring.
I'll just wire your camera to the computer screen.
- 5
To add or connect (something) into a system as if with wires (for example, with nerves).
- 6
To connect, involve or embed (something) deeply or intimately into (something else, such as an organization or political scene), so that it is plugged in (to that thing) (“keeping up with current information about (the thing)”) or has insinuated itself into (the thing).
- 7
To set or predetermine (someone's personality or behaviour, or an organization's culture) in a particular way.
There's no use trying to get Sarah to be less excitable. That's just the way she's wired.
- 8
To send a message or monetary funds to another person through a telecommunications system, formerly predominantly by telegraph.
Urgent: please wire me another 100 pounds sterling.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wire in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fil |
| German | Draht , Ader , Wanze , Geld überweisen |
| Portuguese | arame , fio , escuta, grampo |
| Spanish | alambre, hilo, arambre , cable , cablear |
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 wire come from?
From Middle English wir, wyr, from Old English wīr (“wire, metal thread, wire-ornament”), from Proto-Germanic *wīraz (“wire”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁iros (“a twist, thread, cord, wire”), from *weh₁y- (“to turn, twist, weave, plait”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).