inflammable

English

Etymology

From Middle French inflammable, from Medieval Latin īnflammābilis, from Latin īnflammāre (“to set on fire”), from in (“in, on”) + flamma (“flame”). Equivalent to inflame +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭnʹflăm-ə-bəl, IPA^(key): /ɪnˈflæməbəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

inflammable (comparative more inflammable, superlative most inflammable)

1. Capable of burning.

   Synonyms: flammable, combustible

   Antonyms: nonflammable, noninflammable, unflammable, uninflammable; fireproof, incombustible

2. Easily set on fire.

   Synonym: flammable

   Antonyms: nonflammable, noninflammable, unflammable, uninflammable; fireproof, incombustible

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     On he went a few paces and touched a second, then a third, and a fourth, till at last we were surrounded on all three sides by a great ring of bodies flaring furiously, the material with which they were preserved having rendered them so inflammable that the flames would literally spout out of the ears and mouth in tongues of fire a foot or more in length.

3. (figuratively) Easily excited; set off by the slightest excuse; easily enraged or inflamed.

   Synonyms: hot-headed, quick to anger

   Antonyms: level-headed, unflappable

4. (nonstandard) Incapable of burning; not easily set on fire.

   Synonyms: nonflammable, noninflammable, unflammable, uninflammable; fireproof, incombustible

   Antonyms: flammable, combustible

Usage notes

• Inflammable is traditionally used to mean "capable of burning" (compare inflame meaning "set on fire"); the term flammable is a more recent back-formation. Recently, comparison with other words where in- means "not" (like inedible and inaccurate) has led to inflammable being used to mean "not flammable". Where confusion might arise, especially where this may be a safety hazard, one may prefer to use flammable or nonflammable, respectively.

Related terms

• inflame
• inflammability
• inflammable air
• inflammable cinnabar
• inflammation

 

Translations

capable of burning — see also flammable

• Bulgarian: запалим (bg) (zapalim)
• Catalan: inflamable (ca), combustible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 易燃的 (zh) (yìrán de)

• Czech: vznětlivý, zápalný (cs), hořlavý (cs)
• Danish: brændbar, letantændelig
• Dutch: ontvlambaar (nl)
• Finnish: palava (fi), tulenarka (fi), syttyvä (fi), helposti syttyvä
• French: inflammable (fr)
• Georgian: აალებადი (ka) (aalebadi)
• German: brennbar (de), entflammbar
• Greek: εύλεκτος (évlektos), εύφλεκτος (el) (éfflektos), αναφλέξιμος (el) (anafléximos), ευερέθιστος (el) (everéthistos), ανεύφλεκτος (el) (anéfflektos), άφλεκτος (el) (áflektos)
• Hungarian: gyúlékony (hu)
• Icelandic: eldfimur
• Irish: adhantach, inadhainte, inlasta, so-adhainte, so-lasta
• Italian: infiammabile (it)
• Japanese: 引火性 (いんかせい, inkasei), 可燃 (ja) (kanen), 可燃性 (ja) (かねんせい, kanensei)
• Luxembourgish: feiergeféierlech
• Manx: so-lostey, so-ghreesaghey
• Norman: înfliammabl'ye (Jersey)
• Polish: palny (pl)
• Portuguese: inflamável (pt)
• Romanian: inflamabil (ro)
• Russian: легковоспламеня́ющийся (ru) (lexkovosplamenjájuščijsja), воспламеня́ющийся (ru) (vosplamenjájuščijsja), горю́чий (ru) (gorjúčij), огнеопа́сный (ru) (ogneopásnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: loisgeach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: го̀рљив, го̀рив

  Roman: gòrljiv (sh), gòriv (sh)

• Slovene: vnetljivo n
• Spanish: inflamable (es), combustible (es)
• Swedish: lättantändlig (sv), brännbar (sv)
• Tagalog: takaw-apoy
• Turkish: yanıcı (tr)

easily excited

• Finnish: tulinen (fi)
• Irish: sochorraithe, soghríosaithe, so-lasta
• Russian: вспы́льчивый (ru) (vspýlʹčivyj)
• Turkish: parlayıcı (tr)

Noun

inflammable (plural inflammables)

1. Any inflammable substance.

Further reading

• “inflammable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “inflammable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French inflammer +‎ -able, from Latin īnflammābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.fla.mabl/

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

• Homophone: inflammables
• Hyphenation: in‧fla‧mmable

Adjective

inflammable (plural inflammables)

1. flammable, inflammable

   Synonym: enflammable

   Antonym: ininflammable

Derived terms

• inflammabilité

Further reading

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