Fiery

How to spell fiery

5 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce fiery

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fiery mean?

1. adjectiveConsisting of, full of, or resembling fire; intensely hot or glowing.
2. adjectiveShowing intense, passionate, or quick-tempered emotion.

Fiery in a sentence

• The sunset cast a fiery orange glow across the harbour.

• She gave a fiery speech that won over the whole committee.

• The chilli sauce had a fiery heat that lingered on the tongue.

• His fiery temper often got him into trouble at work.

Where does fiery come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows straight out of 'fire', which in Old English was 'fyr', meaning the flames and heat of burning. The adjective form took shape in Middle English as 'firy' or 'fiery', simply adding the suffix '-y' to mean 'full of, or resembling, fire'. The puzzling thing for spellers is that the silent 'e' of 'fire' disappears and the letters reorder, so the modern word is 'fiery' rather than the expected 'firey'. This happened because Middle English scribes spelled the root with great inconsistency, and the variant with 'fier' eventually won out as the standard. The same Germanic root sits behind related words across northern Europe, and the figurative use, describing a hot temper or burning passion, was already common by the 1500s. Remembering that the 'e' jumps to the middle ('fi-er-y') is the surest way to dodge the usual misspelling.

How the word is built

• fier- (from fire, Old English fyr)
• -y (adjective suffix); note the spelling reorders to 'fier' rather than 'fire'