firefighter

English

Firefighters.

Etymology

From fire +‎ fighter. Created as a gender-neutral term for fireman and firewoman.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪə(ɹ)ˌfaɪ.tə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪ.ɚˌfaɪ.tɚ/

Noun

firefighter (plural firefighters)

2. (firefighting) A person who has been trained to put out fires.

   Synonyms: fireperson, smoke eater

   Antonym: firestarter

   Hypernym: person

   Hyponyms: fireman (often broadly synonymous), firewoman, hotshot, smokejumper, wildfire-fighter

   • 2014 September 19, Andrew Gumbel, “California's burning up: firefighters rush to the scene as major wildfires scorch the state”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 October 2026:

     A firefighter puts water on a burning tree as flames approach a containment line, while fighting the King fire near Fresh Pond, California. […] More than 4,000 firefighters have rushed to the scene from around the country deploying planes, helicopters and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and fire retardant.

Derived terms

• nonfirefighter

Related terms

• fire engine
• fire extinguisher
• fire hose
• fire hydrant
• firestriker
• fire truck

Translations

person who puts out fires

• Afrikaans: brandweerman sg
• Albanian: zjarrfikës (sq) m
• Arabic: إِطْفَائِيّ m (ʔiṭfāʔiyy)
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܲܟ̰ܡܸܥܵܢܵܐ m (māčmiʿana), ܡܲܟ̰ܡܸܥܵܢܬܵܐ f (māčmiʿanta)

• Armenian: հրշեջ (hy) (hršeǰ), պաժառնիկ (pažaṙnik) (colloquial)
• Asturian: bomberu m
• Azerbaijani: yanğınsöndürən
• Basque: suhiltzaile (eu)
• Belarusian: пажа́рны m (pažárny), пажа́рнік m (pažárnik)
• Breton: pomper m, paotr an tan m
• Bulgarian: пожарника́р m (požarnikár), пожарника́рка f (požarnikárka)
• Catalan: bomber (ca) m, bombera (ca) f
• Cheyenne: éno'továhenéhe
• Chichewa: ozimitsa moto
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 消防隊員 / 消防队员 (zh) (xiāofáng duìyuán), 消防員 / 消防员 (zh) (xiāofángyuán), 消拯員 / 消拯员 (xiāozhěngyuán) (Malaysia)

• Czech: hasič (cs) m, hasička f, požárník (cs) m, požárnice f
• Danish: brandmand (da) c
• Dutch: brandweerman (nl) m, brandweervrouw (nl) f
• Esperanto: fajroestingisto, fajrobrigadano, fajrobrigadisto
• Estonian: tuletõrjuja
• Finnish: palomies (fi), pelastaja (fi), palontorjuja
• French: pompier (fr) m, pompière (fr) f
• Galician: bombeiro (gl) m, bombeira f
• Georgian: მეხანძრე (mexanʒre)
• German: Feuerwehrmann (de) m, Feuerwehrfrau (de) f
• Greek: πυροσβέστης (el) m (pyrosvéstis)
• Hawaiian: kanaka kinai ahi
• Hebrew: כַּבַּאי (he) m (kabái), כַּבָּאִית (he) f (kabaít), לוחם אש m (loḥém esh), לוחמת אש f (loḥémet esh)
• Hindi: अग्निशमक m (agniśmak)
• Hungarian: tűzoltó (hu)
• Icelandic: slökkviliðsmaður (is) m
• Indonesian: pemadam kebakaran (id)
• Ingrian: požarnoi
• Italian: vigile del fuoco (it) m, pompiere (it) m
• Japanese: 消防士 (ja) (しょうぼうし, shōbōshi), 消防隊員 (しょうぼうたいいん, shōbō taiin)
• Kazakh: өрт сөндіруші (ört söndirüwši), өртші (örtši)
• Khmer: អ្នកលត់ភ្លើង (nĕək lŭət phləəng)
• Korean: 소방수(消防手) (ko) (sobangsu), 소방관(消防官) (ko) (sobanggwan)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: agirkuj (ku)

• Kyrgyz: пожарник (pojarnik), пожарный (pojarnıy), өрт өчүрүүчү (ört öcürüücü)
• Ladin: destudafuech m or f
• Latin: siphonarius m, vigil ignis m or f
• Latvian: ugunsdzēsējs m
• Lithuanian: gaisrininkas m, gaisrininkė f
• Luxembourgish: Pompjee m
• Macedonian: пожарникар m (požarnikar), пожарникарка f (požarnikarka)
• Malay: ahli bomba
• Māori: kaitinei ahi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: гал сөнөөгч (gal sönöögč)

• Navajo: kǫʼ yiniłtsésí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brannkonstabel m, brannmann (no) m

  Nynorsk: brannkonstabel m, brannmann m

• Ojibwe: aateʼishkodawewinini
• Pannonian Rusyn: огньогашец m (ohnʹohašec)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: آتَش‌نِشان (âtaš-nešân), مَأْمورِ آتَش‌نِشان (ma'mur-e âtaš-nešân)

• Polish: strażak (pl) m pers, strażaczka f
• Portuguese: bombeiro (pt) m, bombeira f
• Romanian: pompier (ro) m
• Russian: пожа́рный (ru) m (požárnyj), пожа́рная (ru) f (požárnaja), пожа́рник (ru) m (požárnik), пожа́рница (ru) f (požárnica), огнебо́рец (ru) m (ognebórec) (uncommon)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: jáddadeaddji

• Samoan: please add this translation if you can
• Scottish Gaelic: neach-smàlaidh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ватрога́сац m

  Latin: vatrogásac (sh) m

• Slovak: hasič (sk) m, hasička f, požiarnik m, požiarnička f
• Slovene: gasilec (sl) m, gasilka f
• Spanish: bombero (es) m, bombera (es) f
• Swahili: mzimamoto
• Swedish: brandman (sv) c, brandsoldat (sv) c
• Tagalog: bumbero (tl), tagapatay-sunog
• Tajik: муборизи оташ (muboriz-i otaš), сӯхторхомушкунӣ (süxtorxomuškuni)
• Tetum: bombeiru
• Thai: พนักงานดับเพลิง (pá-nák-ngaan-dàp-pləəng)
• Tibetan: མེ་གསོད་མཁན (me gsod mkhan)
• Tongan: tangata tāmate-afi
• Turkish: itfaiyeci (tr), yangıncı (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: یانغینجی (yangıncı)

• Ukrainian: поже́жник m (požéžnyk), поже́жний m (požéžnyj), вогнебо́рець m (vohnebórecʹ)
• Uzbek: oʻchiruvchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: lính cứu hỏa
• Volapük: lefilapoldan (vo) m or f, lefilahipoldan m, lefilajipoldan f
• Welsh: tân-ddiffoddwr m
• Yiddish: פֿײַערלעשער m (fayerlesher)
• Zhuang: bouxsiuhfangz

See also

• standpipe