窝火 (wō huǒ) — (colloquial) to seethe with anger, to be secretly furious

Definition

窝火 means smoldering anger that is held in rather than shown — suppressed fury, not an outburst. Unlike 生气, which is openly annoyed, 窝火 is the quiet, bottled-up kind.

verb
(colloquial) to seethe with angerto be secretly furious

Examples

  • 窝火，。
    Tā tīng le zhè huà xīn lǐ hěn wō huǒ, dàn méi shuō shén me.
    He was secretly furious after hearing this, but didn't say anything.
  • 窝火，。
    Bié wèi zhè diǎn xiǎo shì wō huǒ le, bù zhí dé.
    Don't get worked up over such a small thing; it's not worth it.
  • ，。
    Tā wō le yí dù zi huǒ, zhōng yú bào fā le.
    He had been harboring a bellyful of anger and finally exploded.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

窝wōlodge
火huǒanger

窝 gives the idea of keeping something hidden, and 火 gives anger.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 窩; 窝 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
穴穴xuécave
Sound part声符shēngfú
咼
咼wāi窩wō
Same sound today

The traditional form 窩 uses 穴, a cave, for meaning and 咼 for sound; the simplified 窝 is a later shorthand.

Open 窝 →

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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