Phrase guide

street sweeper

noun · 3 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: /ˈstɹit ˌswipɚ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: metro aide, roadsweeper, scaffie, scaffy, scavenger, street cleaner, streetcleaner, whitewing

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A machine used to sweep streets.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a worker employed to clean streets (especially one employed by a municipal sanitation department)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: street cleaner

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cleaner

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: уличен метач (uličen metač) — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Catalan: escombriaire — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Catalan: escombrador — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Catalan: escombradora — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Chinese Cantonese: 清道夫 (cing1 dou6 fu1) — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Chinese Mandarin: 清道夫 (qīngdàofū) — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Dutch: straatveger — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Estonian: tänavapühkija — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Finnish: kadunlakaisija — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Finnish: katusiivooja — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • French: balayeur — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Galician: varredor — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • German: Straßenkehrer — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • German: Straßenfeger — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Greek: οδοκαθαριστής (odokatharistís) — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Hungarian: utcaseprő — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Italian: spazzino — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Italian: scopino — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Japanese: 街路清掃人 — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Latvian: sētnieks — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Lithuanian: kiemsargis — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Norman: gratteux — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Norwegian Bokmål: gatefeier — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: gatefeiar — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Persian: رفتگر (roftegar) — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Polish: zamiatacz — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Portuguese: varredor de rua — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Portuguese: varredora de rua — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Portuguese: gari — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Portuguese: almeida — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Romanian: măturător — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Romanian: măturătoare — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Russian: дво́рник (dvórnik) — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Russian: му́сорщик (músorščik) — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Spanish: barrendero — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Spanish: barrendera — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Swedish: gatsopare — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Swedish: gatsoperska — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Urdu: خاکروب — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Yoruba: agbálẹ̀ — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Yoruba: gbálẹ̀gbálẹ̀ — person employed to sweep streets, etc.
  • Catalan: escombradora — machine used to sweep streets
  • Chinese Cantonese: 清道夫 (cing1 dou6 fu1) — machine used to sweep streets
  • Chinese Mandarin: 清道夫 (qīngdàofū) — machine used to sweep streets
  • Danish: fejemaskine — machine used to sweep streets
  • Dutch: veegmachine — machine used to sweep streets
  • French: balayeuse — machine used to sweep streets
  • German: Kehrmaschine — machine used to sweep streets
  • Greek: σάρωθρο δρόμων (sárothro drómon) — machine used to sweep streets
  • Hebrew: מטאטא רחוב — machine used to sweep streets
  • Icelandic: götusópari — machine used to sweep streets
  • Italian: spazzatrice — machine used to sweep streets
  • Japanese: 街路清掃車 — machine used to sweep streets
  • Norwegian Bokmål: feiemaskin — machine used to sweep streets
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: feiemaskin — machine used to sweep streets
  • Polish: zamiatarka — machine used to sweep streets
  • Romanian: măturătoare — machine used to sweep streets
  • Russian: подмета́льная маши́на (podmetálʹnaja mašína) — machine used to sweep streets
  • Spanish: barredora — machine used to sweep streets
  • Swedish: sopmaskin — machine used to sweep streets
  • Urdu: خاکروب — machine used to sweep streets
  • Vietnamese: xe quét đường — machine used to sweep streets