set on fire

English

Verb

set on fire (third-person singular simple present sets on fire, present participle setting on fire, simple past and past participle set on fire)

1. (transitive) To cause to begin to burn.
   • 1941 [1938], Bennie Benjamin, Eddie Durham, Sol Marcus, Eddie Seiler (lyrics and music), “I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire” (0:05 from the start), performed by The Ink Spots, Decca:

     I don't want to set the world on fire / I just want to start a flame in your heart

2. (figuratively, transitive) To arouse passionate feelings in.

   You set my heart on fire.

Synonyms

• (cause to begin to burn): fire, ignite, set afire, set alight, set fire to, set ablaze, set afire, set aflame
• (arouse passionate feelings in): inflame, ignite, inspire, excite, rouse

Derived terms

• set one's hair on fire
• set the Thames on fire
• set the world on fire

Translations

cause to begin to burn

• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: վառել (hy) (vaṙel), այրել (hy) (ayrel), հրկիզել (hy) (hrkizel)
• Azerbaijani: odlamaq, od vurmaq, yandırmaq (az), alışdırmaq
• Bulgarian: паля (bg) (palja), запалвам (bg) (zapalvam)
• Catalan: encendre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 焚燒／焚烧 (fan⁴ siu¹)

  Hokkien: 放火 (zh-min-nan) (pàng-hóe, pàng-hé), 放火燒／放火烧 (páng-hóe-sio, páng-hé-sio)

  Mandarin: 放火 (zh) (fànghuǒ), 縱火／纵火 (zh) (zònghuǒ) (formal)

• Czech: zapálit (cs)
• Dutch: in brand steken, aansteken (nl)
• Esperanto: ekbruligi
• Finnish: sytyttää (fi)
• French: allumer (fr), enflammer (fr), embraser (fr)
• Galician: acender (gl), prender (gl), pregar
• Georgian: წვავს (c̣vavs), დაწვავს (dac̣vavs)
• German: anzünden (de), entzünden (de)
• Greek: βάζω φωτιά (vázo fotiá)
• Hebrew: הצית (hitsít), הדליק (hidlík)
• Hindi: तापना (hi) (tāpnā), जलाना (hi) (jalānā)
• Hungarian: felgyújt (hu), meggyújt (hu)
• Indonesian: membakar (id)
• Ingrian: virittää, syttää, sytyttää
• Italian: incendiare (it), dare fuoco a
• Japanese: 火を付ける (ひをつける, hi o tsukeru), 着火する (ja) (chakka suru), 点火する (ja) (tenka suru), 放火する (ja) (hōka suru) (for arson)
• Kashmiri:

  Devanagari: ज़ालुन (zālun)

  Perso-Arabic: زالُن (zālun)

• Kazakh: жағу (jağu), өртеу (örteu)
• Khmer: ដុត (km) (dot)
• Korean: 불을 지르다 (bur-eul jireuda), 점화(點火)하다 (jeomhwahada), 방화(放火)하다 (ko) (banghwahada) (for arson)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سووتاندن (sûtandin), ئاگرکردن (agirkirdin)

• Latin: incendō, igniō (la), accendō (la), flammō
• Latvian: aizdedzināt
• Lithuanian: padegti
• Malay: bakar (ms)
• Norwegian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: podpalić (pl), zapalić (pl)
• Portuguese: queimar (pt), atear (pt), incendiar (pt)
• Romanian: da foc
• Russian: подже́чь (ru) (podžéčʹ), заже́чь (ru) (zažéčʹ), запали́ть (ru) (zapalítʹ)
• Samoan: tutu i (sm) afi (sm)
• Slovak: zapáliť, podpáliť
• Spanish: pegar fuego, prender fuego, incendiar (es), encender (es), alumbrar (es)
• Swedish: sätta eld på, antända (sv), sätta i brand, sätta fyr på
• Telugu: తగులబెట్టు (te) (tagulabeṭṭu), మంటబెట్టు (maṇṭabeṭṭu)
• Tetum: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: จุด (th) (jùt), จุดไฟ
• Tongan: tutu
• Ukrainian: підпа́лювати impf (pidpáljuvaty), підпали́ти pf (pidpalýty)
• Vietnamese: đốt (vi), phóng hoả (vi)

arouse passionate feelings in

• Azerbaijani: coşdurmaq, qızışdırmaq
• Finnish: sytyttää (fi)
• German: entflammen (de)
• Hebrew: הצית (hitsít)
• Hungarian: lángra gyújt, lángra lobbant (hu)
• Lithuanian: sujaudinti (lt)
• Portuguese: acalentar (pt)
• Russian: разже́чь (ru) (razžéčʹ)
• Spanish: encender (es), calentar (es)
• Swedish: sätta i brand (poetic)

Anagrams

• Firestone, firestone, forestine, fresnoite