TongTong
Sign in

发火 (fā huǒ) — to get angry, to lose one's temper; to catch fire, to ignite

Definition

Two distinct senses: 'to get angry' (lose one's temper — stronger/flashier than 生气, more colloquial than 发怒) and 'to catch fire / ignite' (similar to 着火, but 着火 emphasizes the resulting fire while 发火 emphasizes the ignition moment).

verb
to get angryto lose one's temperto catch fireto ignite

Examples

  • 发火。
    Bié wèi zhè zhǒng xiǎo shì fā huǒ.
    Don't get angry over such a small thing.
  • ，。
    Tā jīn tiān fā le yí cì huǒ, bǎ dà jiā dōu xià dào le.
    He lost his temper once today and scared everyone.
  • 发火。
    Huǒ chái yì huá jiù fā huǒ le.
    The match caught fire as soon as it was struck.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

发fāproduce
火huǒfire

"发" contributes "produce" and "火" contributes "fire", so 发火 means to produce fire, hence to catch fire.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 發; 发 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 发 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (爆发, 出发) it is 發; in others (理发, 头发) it is 髮.

The form 發, which 发 stands for in many words, was originally drawn as a bow firing an arrow.

Open 发 →

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
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Emotions & Feelings5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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