烽火 (fēng huǒ) — signal fire; beacon; flames of war; war

Definition

Literary word for the beacon fires used in ancient China to signal military alerts, and by extension 'the flames of war.' Far more formal and historical than the everyday word 战争.

noun
signal firebeaconflames of warwar
Measure word · 阵

Examples

  • 烽火。
    Gǔ dài rén yòng fēng huǒ chuán dì xìn xī.
    Ancient people used signal fires to transmit information.
  • 烽火。
    Zhàn zhēng de fēng huǒ màn yán dào le zhěng gè dì qū.
    The flames of war spread to the entire region.
  • 。
    fēng huǒ Tái shì gǔ dài zhòng yào de jūn shì shè shī.
    Beacon towers were important military installations in ancient times.

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.

烽fēngbeacon
火huǒfire

A beacon fire signals war.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
夆
夆páng烽fēng
Same sound today

烽 is built from 火, showing fire, plus 夆, which provides the sound.

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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