萤火 (yíng huǒ) — light of fireflies; fairy light (poetic)

Definition

Usually short for 萤火虫 (firefly), referring to the glowing light fireflies give off — also used poetically for tiny scattered lights like fireflies.

noun
light of firefliesfairy light (poetic)
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，萤火。
    Xià tiān de yè wǎn, yíng huǒ zài tián yě lǐ shǎn shuò.
    On summer nights, firefly light flickers in the fields.
  • 萤火，。
    Hái zi men zhuī zhú zhe yíng huǒ, kāi xīn jí le.
    The children chased the firefly light, extremely happy.
  • 萤火。
    Tā de yǎn jing lǐ fǎng fú yǒu yíng huǒ yì bān.
    His eyes seemed to contain firefly light.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

萤yíngfirefly
火huǒlight/fire

萤 gives firefly and 火 gives light, yielding firefly light.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 萤 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.