pyro-, pyr-
(Greek: fire, burn, burning, heat, produced by heating, hot; and sometimes also referring to "fever as shown at this link")
Someone who has the uncontrollable impulse and practice of setting things on fire.
pyrometamorphism
Contact metamorphism (change in the structure of rock) occurring at temperatures near the melting points of the constituent minerals in contact with magma.
pyrometer
An instrument for measuring high temperatures.
pyrometric
A descriptive term for measuring high temperatures; such as, those in furnaces.
pyrometry
A field of technology concerned with the measurement of high temperatures.
pyronomics
The science dealing with heat.
pyronyxis
Treatment, or cauterization (use of heat to destroy abnormal cells), by puncturing a body part with hot needles.
pyrophane
A mineral which is opaque in its natural state, but is said to change its color and become transparent by heat.
Someone who has a special attraction to fires: Joe's brother was a pyrophile who was totally enthusiastic about fireworks and fire.
Sandy's father was a pyrophile, a specialist in volcanoes, and explained to her that they were caused by natural internal heat from inside the Earth.
pyrophilia
1. Plants that grow on ground which has been recently consumed by fire.
2. Someone who has a morbid desire to watch fires.
2. Someone who has a morbid desire to watch fires.
pyrophilous (adjective), more pyrophilous, most pyrophilous
1. Regarding an abnormal attraction to fires by starting, or watching, them: Because of his pyrophilous actions, Jeff was caught and questioned by the police.
2. Descriptive of plants that quickly start growing in areas that have been recently burned: Some pyrophilous plants, like the fireweed, the manzanita, and the buckbrush, started thriving following the terrible fire near Jack's home.
2. Descriptive of plants that quickly start growing in areas that have been recently burned: Some pyrophilous plants, like the fireweed, the manzanita, and the buckbrush, started thriving following the terrible fire near Jack's home.
The feature of plants that grow on ground which has been recently burned over: When Jill was reading about pyrophily for her biology class, she came across the fireweed which grew well in open fields, especially in land that had just been scorched by a fire.
An intense fear of flares, watching fires, or an extraordinary fear that someone would start blazes: Mac was terrified of being near anything that could cause flames, including matches, cigarette lighters, fireplaces, etc. because his pyrophobia came about when he barely escaped being burned to death in his house as a small child.
© ALL rights are reserved.
Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.
pyrophobic (adjective); more pyrophoric, most pryrophobic
Relating to an intense horror of fire: Bruce has a pyrophobic condition and doesn't want to have a fireplace in his home fearing that his house might burn down.
pyrophone
A musical instrument in which the tones are produced by flames of hydrogen, or illuminating gas, burning in tubes of different sizes and lengths.
Cross references of word groups that are related, directly, indirectly, or partly to: "fire, burn, glow, or ashes": ars-, ard-; -bust; cand-, cend-; caust-, caut-; crema-; ciner-; ether-; flagr-; flam-; focus, foci-; fulg-; gehenna-; ign-; phleg-; phlog-; pyreto-, -pyrexia; spodo- (ashes; waste); volcan-.
