星火 (xīng huǒ) — spark; small fire; shooting star; meteor; very urgent matter (in set phrases)

Definition

Literary word for 'spark' — literally 'star-fire.' It almost always appears in set phrases (e.g. 急如星火 'extremely urgent', 星火燎原 'a spark starts a prairie fire') rather than as a plain object.

noun
sparksmall fireshooting starmeteorvery urgent matter (in set phrases)
Measure word · 颗
Easily confused

Examples

  • 星火，。
    xīng huǒ Suī xiǎo, què kě yǐ liáo yuán.
    A single spark, though small, can start a prairie fire.
  • 星火，。
    Zhè jiàn shì jí rú xīng huǒ, bì xū mǎ shàng chǔ lǐ.
    This matter is extremely urgent — it must be dealt with immediately.
  • 星火，。
    Yè kōng zhōng huá guò yí dào xīng huǒ, zhuǎn shùn jí shì.
    A shooting star streaked across the night sky and vanished in an instant.

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.

星xīngstar
火huǒfire

星 gives a star-like image and 火 gives fire, together meaning a tiny spark or shooting-star 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.

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

Open 星 →

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 →

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