Fireman vs. Firefighter — What's the Difference?

Traditional Role

Professional Term

Occupational Term

Modern Usage

Slang

Gender-Neutral

A firefighter.

Official Language

A man who tends fires; a stoker.

Wide Acceptance

An enlisted man in the US Navy or Coast Guard engaged in the operation of engineering machinery.

A firefighter is a rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also animals from dangerous situations. Male firefighters are sometimes referred to by the more traditional term fireman (and, less commonly, a female firefighter as firewoman) although the use of this terminology is discouraged in the UK.The fire service, also known in some countries as the fire brigade or fire department, is one of the three main emergency services.

(Baseball) A relief pitcher.

A member of a fire department who fights fires.

(firefighting) Someone (especially one who is male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.

A person who has been trained to put out fires.

A person (originally a man) who keeps the fire going underneath a steam boiler (originally, shoveling coal by hand), particularly on a railroad locomotive or steamship.

A person whose occupation it is to go to the scene of an unwanted fire and extinguish it; a member of a fire company; a fireman{1} or a woman who fights fires.

An assistant on any locomotive, whether steam-powered or not.

A member of a fire department who tries to extinguish fires

(baseball) A relief pitcher (reflecting the figurative analogy of rescuing the situation).

A safety inspector in coal mines.

A man whose business is to extinguish fires in towns; a member of a fire company.

A man who tends the fires, as of a steam engine; a stocker.

Play in which children take the roles of firemen and pretend to put out a fire

A laborer who tends fires (as on a coal-fired train or steamship)

A pitcher who does not start the game

A member of a fire department who tries to extinguish fires

Historical Usage

Locomotive Reference

Fireman traditionally refers to a person who fights fires.

Firefighter is preferred as it is gender-neutral and inclusive.

Yes, firefighter is a modern, gender-neutral term for someone who extinguishes fires.

While fireman is still understood and used, firefighter is more common and encouraged today.

Fireman was widely used but was not gender-neutral.

While understood, using fireman for a woman is historically and grammatically incorrect.

Yes, firefighter is widely understood and accepted globally.

Firefighter is favored due to its gender-neutral and inclusive nature.

Yes, both fireman and firefighter refer to individuals with similar duties related to extinguishing fires.

A firefighter’s primary duty is to extinguish fires and perform rescue operations.

The equivalent can vary, like "pompier" in French, which is also gender-neutral.

Fireman isn’t necessarily offensive but is seen as outdated and non-inclusive.

Firefighter is predominantly used in official and legal documentation.

Yes, fireman also historically referred to a man who tended the fire on a steam engine.

There isn’t a widely-recognized diminutive; firefighter is used formally and informally.