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玩火 (wán huǒ) — (figurative) to play with fire, to take reckless or dangerous risks

Definition

玩火 (wánhuǒ) literally means 'play with fire' — almost always used figuratively to mean taking reckless or dangerous risks. Marked figurative; do not use it for literal fireplay.

verb
(figurative) to play with fire, to take reckless or dangerous risks

Examples

  • 玩火。
    Nǐ zhè yàng gēn lǎo bǎn shuō huǎng jiǎn zhí shì zài wán huǒ.
    Lying to your boss like this is basically playing with fire.
  • ，。
    Tā wán le yí cì huǒ, jié guǒ sǔn shī cǎn zhòng.
    He took a risky move once and ended up suffering heavy losses.
  • 玩火，。
    Qiān wàn bié zài shù lín lǐ wán huǒ, hěn róng yì yǐn qǐ huǒ zāi.
    Never play with fire in the woods; it can easily cause a fire.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

玩wánplay
火huǒfire

玩 means to play and 火 means fire, so the word literally describes playing with 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
玉玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
元
元yuán玩wán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

玩 pairs 玉 (jade) with 元 (yuán) for sound. The jade part points to toys made of jade.

Open 玩 →

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.

Open 火 →
Appears in
Safety & Danger

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