Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• 灬 (when used as a bottom Chinese radical)

Han character

火 (radical 86 火+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 火 (F), four-corner 9080₀)

1. Kangxi radical #86, ⽕ ‎(“fire”).

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/火
• 黑 (黒)

References

• KangXi: page 665, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 18850
• Dae Jaweon: page 1073, character 19
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2187, character 1
• Unihan data for U+706B

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 火
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bamboo and silk script	Large seal script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) – pictographic representation of a fire.

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mej.

Pronunciation

Definitions

火

1. fire; flame
2. fire (as a disaster); inferno
3. red; fiery; bright; brilliant
4. to burn down
5. light; torch
6. anger; rage; wrath
7. to become enraged
8. angry; furious
9. (TCM) internal heat
10. firearm; ammunition; weapon
11. war; warfare
12. thriving; brisk
13. urgent; pressing
14. (neologism) to become popular; to go viral
15. Short for 火星 (Huǒxīng, “Mars”).

Compounds

Descendants

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. fire

Readings

• Goon: か (ka) < くわ (kwa)
• Kan’on: か (ka) < くわ (kwa)
• Tōon: こ (ko)
• Kun: ひ (hi), ほ (ho), ふ (fu)

Compounds

Etymology 1

火 (hi, ho, fu, ka): fire.

From Old Japanese. /hi₂/: [pɨ] > [ɸɨ] > [ɸi] > [çi].^[1]

Possibly a later development from older form ho (see below).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) ひ​ [híꜜ] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [çi]

Noun

火 ‎(hiragana ひ, romaji hi)

1. a fire; flames
2. a light
3. heat

Derived terms

Idioms

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. /ho/: [po] > [ɸo] > [ho].^[1]

Only used in compounds, whereas hi (see above) appears even in ancient texts as a standalone term. Probably the oldest form. Possibly cognate with Korean 불 ‎(bul, “fire”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ho̞]

Noun

火 ‎(hiragana ほ, romaji ho)

1. a fire

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese. Ancient dialect form in eastern Japan.^[1] Found in compounds.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ɸɯᵝ]

Noun

火 ‎(hiragana ふ, romaji fu)

1. a fire

Derived terms

• 葦火 (あしふ) ‎(ashifu): ancient eastern Japanese dialect reading for 葦火 ‎(ashibi): a fire using dried reeds as kindling or fuel

Etymology 4

火（か）: fire in the Wu Xing system

火（か）: Antares in the Scorpio constellation

From Middle Chinese 火 ‎(xwa^X).^[1]

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) か​ [káꜜ] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠]

Noun

火 ‎(hiragana か, romaji ka, historical hiragana くわ)

1. fire
2. one of the five classical elements in traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine: see the "Wu Xing" entry on Wikipedia
3. under the old Ritsuryō system of ancient Japan, a military grouping, consisting of 10 soldiers: a squad

Idioms

• 火中 (かちゅう)の栗 (くり)を拾 (ひろ)う ‎(kachū no kuri o hirō): “to pick chestnuts out of a fire” → to take a risk

Synonyms

• (squad): (modern Japanese) 分隊 (ぶんたい) ‎(buntai)

Proper noun

火 ‎(hiragana か, romaji Ka, historical hiragana くわ)

1. Tuesday
2. Antares, in the constellation Scorpio

Synonyms

• (Tuesday): 火曜 (かよう) ‎(Kayō), 火曜日 (かようび) ‎(Kayōbi)
• (Antares): アンタレス ‎(Antaresu)

References

1. 1 2 3 4 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

Korean

Hanja

火 • ‎(hwa)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 화 (revised: hwa, McCune-Reischauer: hwa, Yale: hwa)

• Name (hangeul): 불 (revised: bul, McCune-Reischauer: pul, Yale: pul)

1. fire

Compounds

• 火焰
• 發火
• 火災
• 大火
• 電火
• 燈火
• 火食
• 火急
• 心火
• 火器
• 火藥
• 火砲
• 電光石火
• 電氣點火
• 戰火
• 絶火
• 點火
• 點火口

Noun

火 • ‎(hwa) ‎(hangeul 화)

1. fire
2. anger
3. (as an abbreviation) Tuesday

Synonyms

• (Tuesday): 화요일 (hwayoil, “Tuesday”)

Vietnamese

Han character

火 (hoả, vũ, võ)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.