boutefeu
French, noun/but.fø/
boutefeu is spelled B-O-U-T-E-F-E-U (8 letters) and appears about once in every 21 million words in written French, the 147,615th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Boutefeu is a French masculine noun meaning “linstock (stick for lighting cannon)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Baguette garnie à son extrémité d’une mèche d’étoupe qui servait à mettre le feu aux pièces d’artillerie ou…”.
What does boutefeu mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinelinstock (stick for lighting cannon)
- 2
masculinegunner
- 3
masculinefire-starter, arsonist
- 4
masculineincendiary, firebrand
- 5
masculineblaster, shotfirer (person in charge of detonating explosives)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Baguette garnie à son extrémité d’une mèche d’étoupe qui servait à mettre le feu aux pièces d’artillerie ou aux mines. 2. Celui qui mettait le feu au canon ou à des pièces d’artifice. 3. Incendiaire. 4. Celui qui excite des discordes et des querelles.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of boutefeu
- boutefeux plural
- boute-feu alternative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce boutefeu?
- /but.fø/
- \but.fø\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is boutefeu in French?
boutefeu appears about once in every 21 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).