Standard Lemma guide

firework

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈfaɪɚˌwɚk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F AY1 R W ER2 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A device using gunpowder and other chemicals which, when lit, emits a combination of coloured flames, sparks, whistles or bangs, and sometimes made to rocket high into the sky before exploding, used for entertainment or celebration.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, usually

Examples

  • Commercial firework displays are commonly launched from boats or other vessels
  • Fireworks went off after Australia won the World Cup.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

(usually plural) a device with an explosive that burns at a low rate and with colored flames; can be used to illuminate areas or send signals etc.

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pyrotechnic

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: low explosive

Narrower terms: catherine wheel, pinwheel, firecracker, cracker, banger, fizgig, maroon, Roman candle, serpent, skyrocket, rocket, sparkler, squib, torpedo

History

Etymology

From fire + work.

Across languages

Translations

113 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: fishekzjarr — exploding device
  • Arabic: أَلْعَاب نَارِيَّة (ʔalʕāb nāriyya) — exploding device
  • Arabic: مُفَرْقِعَات (mufarqiʕāt) — exploding device
  • Arabic: چراغي (čarraġi) — exploding device
  • Arabic: طَرَاطِيع (ṭarāṭīʕ) — exploding device
  • Arabic: شعالة (šaʕʕāla) — exploding device
  • Arabic: حراقية (ḥarrāqiyya) — exploding device
  • Armenian: հրավառություն (hravaṙutʻyun) — exploding device
  • Azerbaijani: fişəng — exploding device
  • Azerbaijani: atəşfəşanlıq — exploding device
  • Basque: suziri — exploding device
  • Belarusian: феерве́рк (fjejervjérk) — exploding device
  • Bengali: আতশবাজি (atośbaji) — exploding device
  • Breton: tan-arvest — exploding device
  • Bulgarian: фо́йерве́рк (fójervérk) — exploding device
  • Burmese: မီးရှူးမီးပန်း (mi:hru:mi:pan:) — exploding device
  • Catalan: for d'artifici — exploding device
  • Catalan: foc d'artifici — exploding device
  • Chinese Cantonese: 煙花 /烟花 (jin1 faa1) — exploding device
  • Chinese Mandarin: 煙火 /烟火 (yānhuǒ) — exploding device
  • Czech: ohňostroj — exploding device
  • Danish: fyrværkeri — exploding device
  • Dutch: vuurwerk — exploding device
  • Esperanto: artfajraĵo — exploding device
  • Estonian: ilutulestik — exploding device
  • Estonian: tulevärk — exploding device
  • Faroese: fýrverk — exploding device
  • Faroese: skreyteldur — exploding device
  • Faroese: eldverk — exploding device
  • Finnish: ilotulite — exploding device
  • Finnish: ilotulitus — exploding device
  • French: feu d'artifice — exploding device
  • Georgian: ფეიერვერკი (peierverḳi) — exploding device
  • Georgian: ფოიერვერკი (poierverḳi) — exploding device
  • German: Feuerwerkskörper — exploding device
  • Greek: πυροτέχνημα (pyrotéchnima) — exploding device
  • Haitian Creole: fedatifis — exploding device
  • Hebrew: זיקוקי די־נור (ziquqêi di-nur) — exploding device
  • Hindi: आतिशबाज़ी (ātiśbāzī) — exploding device
  • Hindi: आतशबाजी (ātaśbājī) — exploding device
  • Hindi: पटाखा (paṭākhā) — exploding device
  • Hindi: पटाका (paṭākā) — exploding device
  • Hungarian: tűzijáték — exploding device
  • Hungarian: tűzijátékszer — exploding device
  • Hungarian: tűzijátéktermék — exploding device
  • Hungarian: tűzijáték-rakéta — exploding device
  • Icelandic: flugeldar — exploding device
  • Indonesian: kembang api — exploding device
  • Irish: tine ealaíne — exploding device
  • Italian: fuoco d'artificio — exploding device
  • Italian: fuoco artificiale — exploding device
  • Japanese: 花火 (hanabi) — exploding device
  • Kapampangan: pamakbung — exploding device
  • Kazakh: нұршашу (nūrşaşu) — exploding device
  • Kazakh: отшашу (otşaşu) — exploding device
  • Khmer: កាំជ្រួច (kamcruəc) — exploding device
  • Khmer: កញ្ជ្រួច (kɑɑkɑñcruəc) — exploding device
  • Korean: 불꽃놀이 (bulkkonnori) — exploding device
  • Korean: 불꽃 (bulkkot) — exploding device
  • Northern Kurdish: agirbazî — exploding device
  • Kyrgyz: фейерверк (feyerverk) — exploding device
  • Lao: ດອກໄມ້ໄຟ (dǭk mai fai) — exploding device
  • Latvian: uguņošana — exploding device
  • Ligurian: fêugo artifiçiâle — exploding device
  • Lithuanian: fejerverkas — exploding device
  • Macedonian: огномет (ognomet) — exploding device
  • Malay: bunga api — exploding device
  • Malay: kembang api — exploding device
  • Manx: chentag — exploding device
  • Māori: pahūahi — exploding device
  • Māori: tiripapā — exploding device
  • Mizo: hâlmawi — exploding device
  • Mongolian: галын наадам (galyn naadam) — exploding device
  • Norwegian: fyrverkeri — exploding device
  • Persian: آتشبازی (âtaš-bâzi) — exploding device
  • Pohnpeian: anapi — exploding device
  • Polish: fajerwerk — exploding device
  • Portuguese: fogo de artifício — exploding device
  • Punjabi: ਆਤਸ਼ਬਾਜ਼ੀ (ātaśbāzī) — exploding device
  • Romanian: artificiu — exploding device
  • Romanian: foc de artificiu — exploding device
  • Russian: фейерве́рк (fejjervérk) — exploding device
  • Scottish Gaelic: cleas-teine — exploding device
  • Scottish Gaelic: teine-ealain — exploding device
  • Serbo-Croatian: ватромет — exploding device
  • Serbo-Croatian: vatromet — exploding device
  • Sicilian: casteḍḍu di focu — exploding device
  • Sicilian: focu — exploding device
  • Slovak: ohňostroj — exploding device
  • Slovene: ognjemet — exploding device
  • Slovene: raketa — exploding device
  • Spanish: fuego artificial — exploding device
  • Swedish: fyrverkeripjäs — exploding device
  • Tajik: тарфбозӣ (tarfbozi) — exploding device
  • Tajik: оташи тарф (otaš-i tarf) — exploding device
  • Tamil: வெடி (veṭi) — exploding device
  • Tamil: பட்டாசு (paṭṭācu) — exploding device
  • Tamil: வாணவெடி (vāṇaveṭi) — exploding device
  • Tamil: வாணவேடிக்கை (vāṇavēṭikkai) — exploding device
  • Thai: ดอกไม้ไฟ (dɔ̀ɔk-máai-fai) — exploding device
  • Thai: พลุ (plú) — exploding device
  • Tibetan: ཤོག་སྦག (shog sbag) — exploding device
  • Turkish: havai fişek — exploding device
  • Ottoman Turkish: فشك (fişek) — exploding device
  • Turkmen: feýerwerk — exploding device
  • Ukrainian: феєрве́рк (fejervérk) — exploding device
  • Ukrainian: вогнегра́й (vohnehráj) — exploding device
  • Urdu: آتشبازی (ātiśbāzī) — exploding device
  • Urdu: پٹاخا — exploding device
  • Uzbek: mushakbozlik — exploding device
  • Vietnamese: pháo hoa — exploding device
  • Vietnamese: pháo bông — exploding device
  • Welsh: tân gwyllt — exploding device
Real reading context

firework in complete knowledge articles