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fireworks

Pronunciation: /ˈfaɪ̯.ə.wɜːks/

The English word “fireworks” has 2 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An event or a display where fireworks are set off.
  2. A boisterous or violent event or situation.

Etymology

From fire + work(s). The similarity with Dutch vuurwerk and German Feuerwerk, both “fireworks”, is hardly coincidental. Since the word was apparently first attested in English circa 1575, probably from the Dutch (1540), from the German (sense early 16th c.), from Middle High German viurwerc (14th c. as “fuel, firewood”). A spread from the south northwards is also in line with the fact that the…

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