Chinese word

着火

Pronunciation

Pinyinzháo huǒ

Meaning

  • verbcatch fire

Example

房子突然着火了。fáng zi tū rán zháo huǒ le

The house suddenly caught fire.

Illustration for 着火 (catch fire)

More examples

干燥的布料遇火星会很快着火。gān zào de bù liào yù huǒ xīng huì hěn kuài zháo huǒ

Dry cloth catches fire quickly when it encounters a spark.

Core concept

Fire establishes itself on something, marking the change from no flames to active burning.

Common phrases

  • 容易着火róng yì zháo huǒ

    catch fire easily

  • 再次着火zài cì zháo huǒ

    catch fire again

Similar words

起火qí huǒ: Start burning and produce flames, often describing a fire breaking out in a place.
点火dián huǒ: Deliberately light something so that it starts to burn.
燃烧rán shāo: Burn continuously while giving off heat or light.
发火fā huǒ: Give off flames because of a fault or sudden malfunction.

Definition in Chinese

开始燃烧，被火焰点着。kāi shǐ rán shāo bèi huǒ yàn diǎn zháo

Word origin

着 (zháo, "take hold") + 火 (huǒ, "fire") presents fire as taking hold, which gives the verb its sense of beginning to burn.

Usage tips

  • The subject is usually the object or place affected, so the sentence can report a fire without stating who caused it or whether anyone intended it.

Other meanings

  • igniteverb

Opposites

  • 扑灭pū mièput outverb

Word lists with this word