conflagration

English

WOTD – 8 April 2006

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der.

Proto-Italic *flagrosder.?

Latin flagrō

Latin cōnflagrō

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

Proto-Italic *-tiō

Latin -tiō

Latin cōnflagrātiōder.

Middle Frenchbor.

English conflagration

From Middle French, from Latin cōnflagrātiō (“burning, conflagration”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɒnfləˈɡɹeɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

conflagration (countable and uncountable, plural conflagrations)

2. A large fire extending to many objects, or over a large space; a general burning.

   Synonyms: firestorm, inferno

   It took sixty firefighters to put out the conflagration.

   • 1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 87:

     And back to hell his way did he take, / For the Devil thought by a slight mistake / It was general conflagration.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:conflagration.
3. (figuratively) A large-scale conflict.
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     This was well brought out in the skillfully conducted campaigns by the various governments in appealing to the masses with their characteristic suggestible subconsciousness, stirring to the very depths the reflex consciousness of gregarious man by all sorts of direct and indirect suggestions of fear of attacks and patriotic reactions of self-defence against such attacks until the evil genie of self-preservation and fear became loose, resulting in a sweeping conflagration of a war of nations with all the horror of diseases, mutilation, and extermination of millions of human lives, over seventeen and a half millions, according to latest accounts, having perished in this world-massacre of the human race.

4. (figuratively) A situation of great passion or emotion.
   • 1876, The New York Drama, volumes 1-2, page 1:

     I thought it only an amourette when you told me. It was a fire — a conflagration; subdue it.

Derived terms

• superconflagration

Translations

a large, ferocious, and destructive fire

• Arabic: حَرِيق (ar) m (ḥarīq)
• Armenian: հրդեհ (hy) (hrdeh)
• Azerbaijani: yanğın (az)
• Belarusian: пажа́р m (pažár), пажа́рышча n (pažáryšča)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: rabaraba

• Bulgarian: голя́м пожа́р m (goljám požár), пожа́р (bg) m (požár)
• Burmese: မီး (my) (mi:)
• Catalan: conflagració f
• Cherokee: ᎦᎵᎬ (galigv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大火 (zh) (dàhuǒ), 燹 (zh) (xiǎn), 火災 / 火灾 (zh) (huǒzāi)

• Czech: požár (cs) m
• Dutch: vuurzee (nl) f, vlammenzee (nl) f, wereldbrand (nl) m, conflagratie f
• Esperanto: incendio
• Estonian: tulekahju
• Finnish: suurpalo (fi), tulipalo (fi)
• French: conflagration (fr) f, incendie (fr) f
• Galician: conflagración (gl) f
• Georgian: ხანძარი (xanʒari)
• German: Feuersbrunst (de) f, Großbrand (de) m
• Greek: πυρκαγιά (el) f (pyrkagiá)

  Ancient Greek: πύρωσις f (púrōsis), ἐκπύρωσις f (ekpúrōsis)

• Hebrew: דליקה f (dleiqa), שריפה (he) f (sreifa)
• Hindi: आग (hi) f (āg), अग्निकांड (hi) m (agnikāṇḍ)
• Hungarian: tűzvész (hu)
• Icelandic: eldsvoði (is) m, bál (is) n, stórbruni m
• Ido: incendio (io)
• Indonesian: kebakaran (id)
• Irish: dóiteán m
• Italian: conflagrazione (it) f
• Japanese: 火災 (ja) (かさい, kasai), 大火 (ja) (たいか, taika)
• Kazakh: өрт (ört)
• Khmer: អគ្គីភ័យ (akkīphey)
• Korean: 대화재 (ko) (daehwajae), 화재 (ko) (hwajae)
• Kyrgyz: өрт (ky) (ört)
• Lao: ໄຟໄໝ້ (fai mai), ອັກຄີໄພ (ʼak khī phai)
• Latin: exustiō f
• Latvian: ugunsgrēks m
• Lithuanian: gaisras m
• Macedonian: пожар m (požar)
• Malay: kebakaran (ms)
• Māori: toronga
• Old English: ǣled m
• Persian: آتش‌سوزی (fa) (âtaš-suzi)
• Polish: pożar (pl) m, pożoga (pl)
• Portuguese: conflagração (pt) f
• Romanian: conflagrație (ro) f, incendiu (ro) n
• Russian: большо́й пожа́р m (bolʹšój požár), пожа́р (ru) m (požár), пожа́рище (ru) n (požárišče)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пожар m

  Latin: požar (sh) m

• Shor: ӧрт (ört)
• Slovak: požiar (sk) m
• Slovene: požar (sl) m
• Spanish: conflagración (es) f (disused)
• Swedish: brand (sv) c, eldsvåda (sv) c
• Tagalog: sunog (tl)
• Thai: ไฟไหม้ (th) (fai-mâi), เพลิงไหม้, อัคคีภัย (th) (àk-kii-pai)
• Turkish: yangın (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: یانغین (yangın)

• Turkmen: ýangyn
• Ukrainian: поже́жа f (požéža), зга́рище n (zháryšče)
• Urdu: آگ (ur) f (āg)
• Uzbek: yongʻin (uz), pojar
• Vietnamese: hỏa hoạn (vi), nạn cháy lớn

a large-scale conflict

• Finnish: suursota, maailmanpalo (fi) (worldwide)
• French: conflagration (fr) f
• Galician: conflagración (gl) f
• German: Flächenbrand (de) m
• Portuguese: conflagração (pt) f
• Spanish: conflagración (es) f

See also

See also

• conflagrant
• connixation
• fire
• wildfire

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin cōnflagrātiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fla.ɡʁa.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

conflagration f (plural conflagrations)

1. (literary) conflagration

See also

• déflagration

Further reading

• “conflagration”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012