Chinese

Noun

野火

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

Japanese

Etymology 1

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

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) の​び [nóꜜbì] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [no̞bi]

Noun

野火 ‎(hiragana のび, romaji 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

• 燹 (rare)

Synonyms

• (controlled agricultural burn): 野焼 (のや)き ‎(noyaki)

Etymology 2

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

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ho̞so̞ke̞]

Noun

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

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

Alternative forms

• 火退 (rare)
• 逆焼 (rare)
• 燹 (rare)

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• 向火, 向 (む)かい火 (び) ‎(mukaibi)

Etymology 3

From Middle Chinese 野火 ‎(yæ^X xwa^X, literally “open country + fire”).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• (Tokyo) や​か [yáꜜkà] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ja̠ka̠]

Noun

野火 ‎(hiragana やか, romaji 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

• (controlled agricultural burn; wildfire): 燎原 (りょうげん) ‎(ryōgen)
• (will o' the wisp): 鬼火 (おにび) ‎(onibi), 狐火 (きつねび) ‎(kitsunebi), 狐日 (きつねび) ‎(kitsunebi), 陰火 (いんか) ‎(inka), 幽霊火 (ゆうれいび) ‎(yūreibi), 不知火 (しらぬい) ‎(shiranui)

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 4-385-13905-9