different between bonfire vs inferno

English

Alternative forms

• burnfire
• bone-fire (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English bonefire, bonefyre, banefyre (“a fire in which bones are burnt”); equivalent to bone +? fire, with the first element perhaps later assimilating to French bon. Cognate with Scots banefire (“bonfire”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?n.?fa?.?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?n.?fa?.?/, /?b?n.?fa?.?/

Noun

bonfire (plural bonfires)

1. (obsolete) A fire in which bones are burned.
2. A fire to burn unwanted or disreputable items or people: proscribed books, heretics etc.
3. A large, controlled outdoor fire, as a signal or to celebrate something.

Derived terms

• Bonfire Night

Translations

References

See also

• balefire
• bale

Verb

bonfire (third-person singular simple present bonfires, present participle bonfiring, simple past and past participle bonfired)

1. To fire (pottery) using a bonfire.
   • 2000, Moira Vincentelli, Women and Ceramics: Gendered Vessels, Manchester University Press (?ISBN), page 42:

     Most women's traditions involve open firing such as bonfiring, pitfiring, or a fire surrounded by a low wall. More unusually, in Cyprus, Colombia and the Canaries individual potters have their own kilns.

   • 2004, Moira Vincentelli, Women Potters: Transforming Traditions, Rutgers University Press (?ISBN), page 212:

     Bonfiring has a very direct contact between the pottery and the flame. Firing time is usually quite short and the pots are carefully supervised through the process. Bonfiring, in general, does not create the same amount of wasters as kiln firing ...

   • 2018, Kerstin Pinther, Alexandra Weigand, Flow of Forms / Forms of Flow: Design Histories between Africa and Europe, transcript Verlag (?ISBN), page 102:

     […] while open bonfiring was practiced mainly by women and universally used in African traditions where it has a very low failure rate. It has been characterized as technically simple though in fact it requires a hyper refined combination of specific clay body, fuel, firing technique and atmospheric conditions - formulas derived from local experimentation mainly by generations of women.

2. To make, or celebrate around, a bonfire.
   • 2014, Joan Rust, Anniecat Chronicles, Xlibris Corporation (?ISBN), page 131:

     […] are all bar-b-quing, swimming, jetskiing, bonfiring, and the next thing you know everyone is gone, leaving the house empty […]

   • 2016, Alexandra Sirowy, The Telling (?ISBN), cover summary:

     She could only dream about bonfiring with the populars.

Anagrams

• be in for

English

Etymology

From Italian inferno (“hell”), from Latin infernus (“of the lower regions”), inferna (“the lower regions”); see infernal.

The meaning "big fire" came as a figurative use from the traditional idea of hellfire.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?f?no?/
• Rhymes: -??(r)n??

Noun

inferno (plural infernos)

1. A place or situation resembling Hell.
   • D. C. Worcester

     At each sudden explosion in the inferno below they sprang back from the brink [of the volcanic crater].

2. A large fire, a conflagration.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:afterlife

Related terms

• infernal

Translations

Further reading

• inferno in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• inferno at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Fronnie, nonfire

Dutch

Etymology

From Italian inferno (“hell”), from Latin infernus (“of the lower regions”), inferna (“the lower regions”); see infernal. The meaning "big fire" came as a figurative use from the traditional idea of hellfire.

Pronunciation

Noun

inferno n (plural inferno's, diminutive infernootje n)

1. hell-like place or situation.
2. hellfire
3. a large fire

Synonyms

• (a hell-like place): onderwereld
• (hellfire): hellevuur
• (a large fire): vuurzee, vlammenzee

Related terms

• infernaal

Galician

Etymology

Inherited from Old Portuguese inferno, from Latin ?nfernus (“infernal; of the lower regions”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i??f??no?/

Noun

inferno m (plural infernos)

1. (Christianity) hell
2. (figuratively) a very unpleasable or negative situation

Derived terms

• infernal
• inferniño

References

• “inferno” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “inferno” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “inferno” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “inferno” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /in?f?r.no/
• Rhymes: -?rno
• Hyphenation: in?fèr?no

Etymology 1

From Latin ?nfernus (“of the lower regions”), derived from ?nferus (“low”).

Adjective

inferno (feminine inferna, masculine plural inferni, feminine plural inferne)

1. hellish, infernal
2. (uncommon) lower, inferior

Etymology 2

From Late Latin ?nfernus, ?nfernum (“the depths of the earth”), noun use of ?nfernus (“of the lower regions”), derived from ?nferus (“low”).

Noun

inferno m (plural inferni)

1. hell
2. inferno

Related terms

• infernale

Descendants

• ? Dutch: inferno
• ? English: inferno
• ? German: Inferno
• ? Italiot Greek: ???????? (infiérno)
• ? Norwegian: inferno
• ? Swedish: inferno

Etymology 3

From the toponym Inferno (a place near Sondrio).

Noun

inferno m (plural inferni)

1. A kind of red wine.

Anagrams

• frenino, nefroni

References

• inferno¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• inferno² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• inferno³ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

?nfern?

1. dative masculine singular of ?nfernus
2. dative neuter singular of ?nfernus
3. ablative masculine singular of ?nfernus
4. ablative neuter singular of ?nfernus

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Italian inferno, from Latin infernus

Noun

inferno n (definite singular infernoet, indefinite plural inferno or infernoer, definite plural infernoa or infernoene)

1. an inferno

References

• “inferno” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “inferno” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Italian inferno, from Latin infernus

Noun

inferno n (definite singular infernoet, indefinite plural inferno, definite plural infernoa)

1. an inferno

References

• “inferno” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese inferno, iferno, from Latin ?nfernus (“infernal; of the lower regions”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?.?f??.nu/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?.?f??.nu/
• (Carioca) IPA^(key): /?.?f??.nu/
• (Caipira) IPA^(key): /?.?f??.nu/
• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /?.?f??.no/, /?.?f??.no/
• Hyphenation: in?fer?no

Noun

inferno m (plural infernos)

1. (Christianity) hell (where sinners go)
2. (figuratively) a very unpleasant or negative situation
3. (figuratively) a very hot place

Interjection

inferno!

1. hell (expressing discontent, unhappiness, or anger)

Related terms

• infernal
• inferninho

Further reading

• “inferno” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Swedish

Noun

inferno n

1. an inferno; an extremely dangerous, chaotic and generally overwhelming situation

Usage notes

• Swedes would associate inferno with Dante but also with August Strindberg

Declension

Related terms

• infernalisk