TongTong
Sign in

失火 (shī huǒ) — to catch fire, to be on fire

Definition

Means a fire has broken out somewhere — a building, a warehouse, a forest. The verb 着火 focuses on the thing itself catching fire; 失火 emphasizes the event or accident, and is common in news and reports.

verb
to catch fireto be on fire

Examples

  • 失火。
    Nà jiā gōng chǎng shàng ge yuè shī huǒ le.
    That factory caught fire last month.
  • 。
    Nà zuò cāng kù shī guò liǎng cì huǒ.
    That warehouse has caught fire twice.
  • ，失火！
    Kuài diǎn bào jǐng, gé bì shī huǒ le!
    Hurry and call the police, the neighbor's house is on fire!

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

失shīlose
火huǒfire

失 means to lose, and 火 is fire; the word names losing control of fire, i.e. catching fire.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape is explained as a fallen person's footprint surrounded by drops of blood; another reading pairs 手 (hand) and 乙 to show something falling from a hand.

Open 失 →

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

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