野火

Chinese

 
field; plain; open space; limit; boundary; rude; wild
 
fire; angry; fierce; fiery; thriving
simp. and trad.
(野火)		 野 火

Pronunciation

Noun

野火

  1. wildfire
  2. farm fire (for clearing fields)

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
野 火
の
Grade: 2		 ひ > び
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Compound of 野 (no, “field”) +‎ 火 (hi, “fire”).[1] The hi changes to bi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

An ancient variant seen in eastern Japan uses the dialectal reading nu for 野.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

野火 (hiragana のび, rōmaji nobi)

(alternative reading hiragana ぬび, romaji nubi) (obsolete)

  1. a controlled burn set in early spring to clear away brush from mountain fields
  2. a wildfire
Alternative forms
Synonyms
  • (controlled agricultural burn): 野 (の)焼 (や)き (noyaki)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
野 火
Grade: 2 Grade: 1
Irregular

Compound of 火 (ho, “fire”) +‎ 退く (soku, “to push away, to make distant”).[1]

The kun'yomi for 火 is usually hi, but it can appear as ho or fu, particularly in older compounds.[1]

The soku changes to soke due to conjugation of the verb. Grammatically, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of soki was used for intransitive senses, and the stem form of soke was used for the transitive senses.[1]

The kanji 野火 are an example of jukujikun.

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

  • 火退, 逆焼, 燹

Noun

野火 (hiragana ほそけ, rōmaji hosoke) (rare)

  1. a backburn: a controlled fire deliberately set in the path of a wildfire to create a firebreak by removing combustible material
Usage notes

The more common word for this is 向火, 向 (む)かい火 (び) (mukaibi).[1]

Alternative forms
  • 火退 (rare)
  • 逆焼 (rare)
  • 燹 (rare)
Synonyms
  • 向火, 向 (む)かい火 (び) (mukaibi)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
野 火
や
Grade: 2		 か
Grade: 1
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 野火 (yæX xwaX, literally “open country + fire”).

Pronunciation

Noun

野火 (hiragana やか, rōmaji yaka, historical hiragana やくわ)

  1. a controlled burn set to clear away brush from fields
  2. a fire set in a field
  3. a wildfire
  4. a will o' the wisp
Synonyms

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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
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