着火 (zháo huǒ) — to catch fire | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

着火 (zháohuǒ) means something catches fire on its own — focus on the fire starting, not the act of lighting it. Unlike 点燃/点火 (to ignite, set fire to), there's no human lighting it.

verb

to catch fire

Examples

着火。
Zhè zhǒng zhǐ hěn róng yì zháo huǒ.
This kind of paper catches fire very easily.
。
Nà ge fáng zi yǐ qián zhe guò yí cì huǒ.
That house caught fire once before.
着火。
Chú fáng chà diǎn zháo huǒ le.
The kitchen almost caught fire.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

着 means to catch or come into contact, and 火 is 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 著; 着 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艸艸cǎograss; plant

Sound part声符shēngfú

者

者zhě著zháo

Same sound today

The traditional form 著 puts 艸 (grass; plant) above 者, which gives the sound; the simplified 着 is a later shorthand.

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

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