kindling

American  

[kind-ling] / ˈkɪnd lɪŋ /

noun

• kindlings
  plural

1. 

   material that can be readily ignited, used in starting a fire.

2. the act of one who kindles.

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kindling British  

/ ˈkɪndlɪŋ /

noun

1. material for starting a fire, such as dry wood, straw, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unkindling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• kindlings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of kindling

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at kindle ¹, -ing ¹

Compare meaning

How does kindling compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• tinder vs. kindling

Explanation

The small pieces of wood you use to start a fire are called kindling. When you go camping, you can gather kindling, little twigs and branches, to use in a campfire. Kindling helps a fire get going because it's small and dry, easily flammable. Once the kindling is burning, it can ignite the larger pieces of wood in your fire. You can also use this word to mean "the act of lighting," so you could say, "Kindling this fire is so hard after all that rain we had." Kindling comes from the Old Norse root kynda, "to light a fire."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kindling kindlings

But in those circumstances, short sellers provide dry kindling for a conflagration because when the stock jumps, they race to buy it at any price and return borrowed shares.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

An ash tree in my yard dropped a limb and reduced my fence to kindling.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 2026

We matter as much to him as a firestorm cares about kindling.

From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2026

It was the excess on show on the social media accounts of politicians' children that provided the kindling for Nepal's Gen Z uprising last year.

From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026

There they climbed up mountains of garbage, pulling out items their families might find useful—food, kindling, discarded furniture.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

Their previous album, II, had kindlings of groove but Multi-Love is lit up by it like a fairground at night.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 9, 2015

Which of the following natural fine kindlings will not reliably ignite?

From Time Magazine Archive

Cut into pieces, the apple tree can be carpentered into a table, or at the least its kindlings will give off a splendid flame.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now the smoke was simply pouring out, not only out of the paper but out of the kindlings, too.

From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen

She was so interested in imagining the piles and piles of kindlings she would cut that she forgot to listen to what Mother and Daddy said next.

From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen