fire

Pronunciation: /ˈfaɪ.ɚ/

Reading level: easy

Estimated CEFR level: A1 — Beginner

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the event of something burning (often destructive)
  2. noun the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy
  3. noun the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke

Etymology

From Middle English fyr, from Old English fȳr (“fire”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuir, from *fuïr, a regularised form of Proto-Germanic *fōr (“fire”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥. Cognates See also Scots feier, fyre (“fire”), Yola vier, vire (“fire”), Saterland Frisian Fjuur, Fjúur (“fire”), West Frisian fjoer (“fire”), Alemannic German Füür (“fire”), Bavarian Feia (“fire”), Central Franconian Fauer, Feier, Füür (“fire”), Cimbrian bôar, vaür, vôar (“fire”), Dutch vier, vuur (“fire”), German Feuer (“fire”), German Low German Füer, Füür (“fire”), Luxembourgish Feier (“fire”), Mòcheno vaier (“fire”), Vilamovian faojer (“fire”), West Flemish vier (“fire”), Yiddish פֿײַער (fayer, “fire”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fyr (“fire”), Icelandic funi (“fire”), Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌽 (fōn, “fire”). Also, compare Armenian հուր (hur, “fire”), Greek πυρ (pyr, “fire”), Latin pūrgō (“to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify”), Umbrian 𐌐𐌉𐌓 (pir, “fire”), Bulgarian фир (fir, “ooze, pickle, soak”), Polish perz (“smoke”), Hittite 𒉺𒄴𒄯 (paḫḫur, “fire”), Luwian 𒉺𒀀𒄷𒌋𒌨 (pāhūr, “fire”), Tocharian A/B por/puwar (“fire”). This was an inanimate noun whose animate counterpart was Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥gʷnis (see ignite). Cognate to pyre.

In classic literature

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
happening
Narrower (hyponyms)
bonfire, grassfire, brush fire, campfire, forest fire, smoulder

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading

Nice save! Solidify it with review →