firefighter
nounA person trained to stop fires and rescue people from burning buildings.
Syllables
3 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: Letter F
The letter F makes the /f/ sound, like in 'fish', 'fun', and 'fox'. The upper teeth touch the lower lip.
F is a voiceless labiodental fricative — the upper front teeth rest on the lower lip while air flows through to make the /f/ sound. It is very consistent.
Tip
F is for fish — and fish starts with /f/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: IRE says /aɪər/
IRE makes the /aɪər/ sound, like in 'fire', 'tire', and 'hire'.
IRE says /aɪər/ (like 'eye' + 'er'): fire, tire, hire, wire, desire, entire, admire.
Tip
The fire is higher — fire, tire, wire!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Letter F
The letter F makes the /f/ sound, like in 'fish', 'fun', and 'fox'. The upper teeth touch the lower lip.
F is a voiceless labiodental fricative — the upper front teeth rest on the lower lip while air flows through to make the /f/ sound. It is very consistent.
Tip
F is for fish — and fish starts with /f/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: IGH Pattern
IGH says long I — the GH is silent! Like in 'night' and 'light'.
The pattern 'igh' makes the long I sound /aɪ/. The 'gh' is completely silent. This pattern always appears before T in common English words.
Tip
IGH — I goes high, GH is shy (silent)!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Letter T
The letter T makes the /t/ sound, like in 'top', 'tap', and 'ten'. The tongue tip taps behind the upper teeth.
T is a voiceless alveolar stop. The tongue tip touches the ridge behind the upper teeth and releases with a puff of air. Double T (tt) makes the same /t/ sound.
Tip
T taps — touch your tongue to make /t/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Suffix -ER
Adding -ER can mean 'more' (bigger) or 'a person who' (teacher).
The suffix -er has two main uses: comparative ('big' → 'bigger' = more big) and agent ('teach' → 'teacher' = a person who teaches).
Examples
What is SnapPhonics?
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