Etymology

seafire

S1E1A1F4I1R1E1

Today it means: Light which sometimes occurs (caused by the bioluminescence or biophosphorescence of certain organisms) and is visible in seawater on dark nights, typically a pale blue or green colour. Full definition →

English fire ← Middle English fyr ← Old English fȳr
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The story

  1. Englishsea
  2. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂wr̥
  3. Proto-Germanic*fōr
  4. Proto-West Germanic*fuir
  5. Old Englishfȳr
  6. Middle Englishfyr
  7. Englishfire
  8. English todayseafire

From sea + fire. Compare Shetland mareel from Old Norse marr (“sea”) + eldr (“fire”), and marfire.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.