Greek fire
Greek fire noun: a highly flammable substance of unknown composition first used by the Greeks of Constantinople in the 7th century ce to set fire to enemy ships, buildings, etc.
Noun
Greek fire (uncountable)
- A highly flammable substance of unknown composition first used by the Greeks of Constantinople in the 7th century ce to set fire to enemy ships, buildings, etc.
- “There is yet spirit in him,” said Malvoisin apart to Mont–Fitchet, “were it well directed — but, like the Greek fire, it burns whatever approaches it.”1819, Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
- Synonyms:
- Byzantine fire, Grecian fire
Greek fire meaning in Marathi, Arabic and Persian
Greek fire in Marathi
- flammable substance
- ग्रीक अग्नी grīk agnī, ग्रीक आग grīk āg
Greek fire in Arabic
- flammable substance
- النَّارُ الإِغْرِيقِيَّة an-nāru l-ʔiḡrīqiyya
Greek fire in Persian
- flammable substance
- آتش یونانی âtaš yunâni
Synonyms of Greek fire
Questions about Greek fire
- What does Greek fire mean?
- Greek fire means a highly flammable substance of unknown composition first used by the Greeks of Constantinople in the 7th century ce to set fire to enemy ships, buildings, etc.
- What is Greek fire in Marathi?
- Greek fire in Marathi is ग्रीक अग्नी (grīk agnī), ग्रीक आग (grīk āg). See Greek fire meaning in Marathi.
- What part of speech is Greek fire?
- Greek fire is a noun.
Words near Greek fire in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Greek fire (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Greek fire.wav.
Cite this entry: “Greek fire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/greek_fire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
