wildfire

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wilde fyr, wilde fire, wylde fyre, from Old English wilde fȳr. By surface analysis, wild +‎ fire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪldˌfaɪɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

wildfire (countable and uncountable, plural wildfires)

1. A rapidly spreading fire, especially one occurring in a wildland area.

   Synonym: forest fire

   Hyponym: megafire

   Coordinate terms: brushfire, bushfire

2. (historical) Greek fire.
3. (dermatology) A spreading disease of the skin, particularly erysipelas.
4. (figuratively) Something that acts or spreads quickly and uncontrollably.
   • 2015 January 18, Monty Munford, “What’s the point of carrying a mobile phone nowadays?”, in The Daily Telegraph‎:

     So, it appears a revolution has happened and a very unexpected one. Of course it was only a matter of time before it happened. With WiFi connectivity spreading faster than wildfire and a laptop or tablet in one’s bag, what’s the point of a mobile nowadays?

   • 2022 December 9, Rachel Felder, “These Timex Dials Were Designed With a Jeweler’s Eye”, in The New York Times‎:

     “It was my own personal watch and I wanted to change the face,” she said in an interview during a recent business trip to New York. “I started wearing it, and it was wildfire — everybody wanted one.”

Derived terms

• spread like wildfire
• wildfire-fighter

Translations

rapidly spreading fire

Arabic: حَرِيق هَائِل m (ḥarīq hāʔil) Bashkir: үрт (ürt) Bengali: দাবানল (bn) (dabanol) Bulgarian: горски пожар m (gorski požar) Catalan: incendi forestal m Cherokee: ᏕᎦᎵᎬ (degaligv) Chinese: Mandarin: 山火 (zh) (shānhuǒ), 野火 (zh) (yěhuǒ), 林火 (zh) (línhuǒ), 森林大火 (sēnlín dàhuǒ), 森林火災 / 森林火灾 (zh) (sēnlín huǒzāi) Esperanto: arbara incendio Finnish: maastopalo (fi), kulovalkea (fi) French: feu de forêt (fr) m (forest fire), (jargon) FdF m, incendie de forêt (fr) m Galician: incendio forestal m Georgian: ტყის ხანძარი (ṭq̇is xanʒari) German: Lauffeuer (de) n, Waldbrand (de) m (forest fire) Hungarian: futótűz (hu) Italian: incendio boschivo m Japanese: 山火事 (ja) (やまかじ, yama kaji), 山林火災 (ja) (さんりんかさい, sanrin kasai), 森林火災 (ja) (しんりんかさい, shinrinkasai) Korean: 산불 (ko) (sanbul) Malayalam: കാട്ടുതീ (ml) (kāṭṭutī) Marathi: वणवा m (vaṇvā) Middle English: wilde fyr Old English: wilde fȳr n Persian: آتش‌سوزی (fa) (âtaš-suzi) Polish: niekontrolowany ogień m Portuguese: incêndio florestal Punjabi: ਜੰਗਲੀ ਅੱਗ f (jaṅglī agga) Romanian: incendiu de pădure n Russian: пожа́р (ru) m (požár), лесно́й пожа́р m (lesnój požár) Spanish: incendio forestal m (forest fire), fuego incontrolado m, incendio salvaje m Swedish: löpeld (sv) Tamil: காட்டுத்தீ (kāṭṭuttī) Telugu: దావాగ్ని (te) (dāvāgni) Tetum: inséndiu Vietnamese: chất cháy Welsh: tanau gwyllt m pl

Greek fire — see Greek fire

spreading disease of the skin

Finnish: ruusu (fi) (erysipelas) French: please add this translation if you can Middle English: wilde fyr Polish: potówki głębokie nvir pl Welsh: clefyd tân gwyllt m

something that acts quickly and uncontrollably

Finnish: kulovalkea (fi) French: please add this translation if you can Polish: ogień (pl) m Tamil: காட்டுத்தீ (kāṭṭuttī) Welsh: tân gwyllt (cy) m

See also

• conflagration

Further reading

• wildfire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia