fire

Fire is what happens when a material is ignited and combined with oxygen, resulting in combustion. This results in light, heat, and a visible effect that usually appears as orange or yellow flames.

Fire typically requires three ingredients: heat, fuel (something to burn), and oxygen.

Fire is hard to describe since it’s different from the solid, liquid, and gaseous states of matter we’re used to observing (fire is usually a mixture of hot gases, but sometimes it’s a plasma, depending on what’s burning). But you know it when you see it: if you’ve ever lit a match or candle or burned wood in a fireplace, you’ve created fire.

We describe an instance of fire as a fire, as in a fire in the fireplace or a house fire.

If something is burning or consumed by fire, we say it is on fire, as in The stove is on fire.

Fire can also be used metaphorically, such as to refer to intensity or extreme passion, as in The fire in my heart. It’s also commonly used in many idioms and expressions (such as fight fire with fire and playing with fire), and, more recently, as a slang term meaning awesome (as in Those shoes are fire).

As a verb, fire commonly means to discharge a gun or to dismiss someone from a job.

Fire has many other, more specific meanings as both a noun and a verb, and most of them are related in some way to literal fire.

Example: The boss fired Dave after he fired a starter pistol inside the office, causing the ceiling to catch on fire.

The first records of the word fire come from before 900. As a noun, it comes from the Old English fȳr. Fire is related to the Old Norse fūrr and German Feuer, which come from the Greek pŷr (the origin of the word part pyro-, as in pyrotechnics, and the word pyre, as in funeral pyre). As a verb, fire comes from the Middle English firen, which was derived from the noun and means “to kindle or inflame.”

Fire has fascinated humans for as long as we have known about it. At one time, fire was thought to be one of the four substances (the others being earth, air, and water) that made up everything in the universe. It has been used for cooking, warmth, and other practical uses for at least hundreds of thousands of years.

We often specify types of fires by what is on fire, such as house fire and forest fire, or what has caused or is fueling the fire, as in grease fire. Things that involve preventing or putting out fires or fire safety typically have the word in their name, such as in firefighter, fire department, fire truck, fire extinguisher, fire escape, and fire drill.

What are some other forms related to fire?

• firer (noun)
• counterfire (noun, verb)
• refire (verb)
• unfired (adjective)

What are some synonyms for fire?

• blaze
• shoot
• inferno
• flame
• pyre
• discharge
• dismiss

What are some words that share a root or word element with fire? 

• wildfire
• bonfire
• campfire
• fireplace
• firefighter
• gunfire
• cease-fire

What are some words that often get used in discussing fire?

• combustion
• flames
• burn
• oxygen
• heat
• fuel
• set
• start
• extinguish

The word fire is very commonly used, particularly in its literal sense.

At the site of the North Complex Fire today, Governor @GavinNewsom signed @AsmReyes47's #AB2147 eliminating barriers that prevent former inmate fire crews from pursuing a career as a firefighter once they served their time. #CaliforniaForAll pic.twitter.com/tT3D18UJWK

— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) September 11, 2020

I have been affected by fires in the Central Coast. Ash still rains down on us. Friends & family across CA are affected. My family & friends in OR are affected; some homes are still at risk. Friends & family in WA are affected. The fires are everywhere.

— heather lyons (@_heatherlyons) September 11, 2020

Perhaps she is telling you people to clean up dead trees and brush to remove fuel so fires don't get so bad.

— JIM KOONTZ (@JIMKOONTZ4) September 11, 2020

Which of the following things is NOT one of the three ingredients typically required for a fire?

A. heat
B. oxygen
C. water vapor
D. fuel