Wordwyrt

inflame

/ɪnfˈleɪm/in-FLAYM
/ɪnfˈleɪm/in-FLAYM

Meaningset on fire

Common meaning: make hot, painful or angry

‘in, into’ + ‘a blaze, flame’ → inflame

Journey through time

  • in — Latin in- “in, into” (path traced)
  • flame — Latin flamma, -ae “a blaze, flame” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as inflammare.

  1. Latinin- + flamma‘in, into + a blaze, flame’source
  2. Latininflammare‘set on fire’source
  3. Old Frenchenflamber‘to inflame’source
  4. Englishmeaning shiftsset on fire → make hot, painful or angryinflame‘make hot, painful or angry’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin inflammare, which Skeat analyses as in- ‘in, into’ + flamma ‘a blaze, flame’.

Roots

Related words

flameflamingoinflammableinflammation

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