Etymology

hellfire

H4E1L1L1F4I1R1E1

Today it means: The fire of Hell. Full definition →

Middle English helle fire ← Old English hellefȳr
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromhellefȳr
  2. Middle English · inherited fromhelle fire
  3. English todayhellfire

From Middle English helle fire, helever, from Old English hellefȳr, equivalent to hell + fire. Cognate with West Frisian helfjoer (“hellfire”), Dutch hellevuur (“hellfire”), German Höllenfeuer (“hellfire”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.