火に油を注ぐ
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | ||
|---|---|---|
| 火 | 油 | 注 |
| ひ Grade: 1 |
あぶら Grade: 3 |
そそ Grade: 3 |
| kun'yomi | ||
Etymology
Literally “to pour oil on a fire”. Calque of English add fuel to the fire. First attested in the early 1900s.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [çi ɲ̟i a̠bɯ̟ɾa̠ o̞ so̞so̞ɡɯ̟]
Idiom
火に油を注ぐ • (hi ni abura o sosogu)
- [from early 1900s] to add fuel to the fire
Usage notes
A native idiom expressing the same idea of "making a bad situation worse" is 鬼に金棒 (oni ni kanabō, “[giving] a metal club to an ogre”).
Conjugation
| Katsuyōkei ("stem forms") | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mizenkei ("imperfective") | 火に油を注が | ひにあぶらをそそが | hi ni abura o sosoga |
| Ren’yōkei ("continuative") | 火に油を注ぎ | ひにあぶらをそそぎ | hi ni abura o sosogi |
| Shūshikei ("terminal") | 火に油を注ぐ | ひにあぶらをそそぐ | hi ni abura o sosogu |
| Rentaikei ("attributive") | 火に油を注ぐ | ひにあぶらをそそぐ | hi ni abura o sosogu |
| Kateikei ("hypothetical") | 火に油を注げ | ひにあぶらをそそげ | hi ni abura o sosoge |
| Meireikei ("imperative") | 火に油を注げ | ひにあぶらをそそげ | hi ni abura o sosoge |
| Key constructions | |||
| Passive | 火に油を注がれる | ひにあぶらをそそがれる | hi ni abura o sosogareru |
| Causative | 火に油を注がせる 火に油を注がす |
ひにあぶらをそそがせる ひにあぶらをそそがす |
hi ni abura o sosogaseru hi ni abura o sosogasu |
| Potential | 火に油を注げる | ひにあぶらをそそげる | hi ni abura o sosogeru |
| Volitional | 火に油を注ごう | ひにあぶらをそそごう | hi ni abura o sosogō |
| Negative | 火に油を注がない | ひにあぶらをそそがない | hi ni abura o sosoganai |
| Negative continuative | 火に油を注がず | ひにあぶらをそそがず | hi ni abura o sosogazu |
| Formal | 火に油を注ぎます | ひにあぶらをそそぎます | hi ni abura o sosogimasu |
| Perfective | 火に油を注いだ | ひにあぶらをそそいだ | hi ni abura o sosoida |
| Conjunctive | 火に油を注いで | ひにあぶらをそそいで | hi ni abura o sosoide |
| Hypothetical conditional | 火に油を注げば | ひにあぶらをそそげば | hi ni abura o sosogeba |
References
- ^ “火に油を注ぐ”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten][1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006