foxfire

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Bioluminescence created by some types of fungus, particularly those growing on rotting wood.
  2. Wood exhibiting fungal bioluminescence; torchwood.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɒksfaɪə/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-foxfire.wav /ˈfɑksˌfaɪ(ə)ɹ/

Word forms

foxfire fox fire fox-fire

Etymology

Possibly from fox + fire, though the semantic connection is unclear. Alternatively, the first element may be ultimately from Old French fols (“false”), or the term may derive by folk etymology from phosphor.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.