走火 (zǒu huǒ) — (electrical) to spark, to short-circuit; (firearm) to accidentally discharge; (figurative) to overstate, to go too far (in speech or action)
Definition
走火 literally means 'fire runs' and is used in three concrete senses: a gun firing by accident, an electrical short / spark, and (figuratively) speech or action going too far.
verb
(electrical) to sparkto short-circuit(firearm) to accidentally discharge(figurative) to overstateto go too far (in speech or action)
Examples
- 走火。Diàn qì gāng xiū hǎo jiù zǒu huǒ le.The appliance had just been fixed and then short-circuited.
- 。Tā zài cā qiāng shí bù xiǎo xīn zǒu le huǒ.He accidentally discharged the gun while cleaning it.
- ，走火。Tā shuō huà tài jī dòng, yǒu diǎn r zǒu huǒ.He got too excited while speaking and went a bit overboard.
Origin
Compound word构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate
A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.
走 here pictures fire running off or escaping, and 火 is fire, giving the sense of a spark, short circuit, or accidental discharge.
Appears in
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