救火 (jiù huǒ) — to fight a fire, to put out a fire | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literally 'save fire', 救火 means fighting an active fire to put it out. Note the verb-object structure: you can insert a duration between 救 and 火 (救了一个小时的火).

verb

to fight a fireto put out a fire

Examples

救火。
Xiāo fáng yuán zhèng zài jiù huǒ.
Firefighters are fighting a fire.
。
Tā men jiù le yí gè xiǎo shí de huǒ cái fā xiàn méi rén.
They fought the fire for an hour before realizing no one was inside.
，救火。
Lín jū jiā shī huǒ le, dà jiā kuài qù jiù huǒ.
The neighbor's house is on fire — everyone go fight it!

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

救 denotes emergency action against disaster, and 火 is the fire, so it means to extinguish the fire.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

攴攴pū

Sound part声符shēngfú

求

求qiú救jiù

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 救, 求 gives the sound, and 攴 is the action part.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

火 is a simple drawing of a fire, with flames shown rising upward.

Appears in

Safety & Danger

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