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火上澆油

简火上浇油 · 繁火上澆油

Mandarin · pinyin huǒ shàng jiāo yóu

to pour oil on the fire (idiom); fig. to aggravate a situation
to enrage people and make matters worse

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Characters in this entry

火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
澆: Look up this written character
油: yóu · oil, fat, grease, lard; paints
浇: jiāo · spray, water, sprinkle

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4–1–2 · huo3 shang4 jiao1 you2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

火上澆油 · find source passages ↗ · 火上浇油 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fo2 soeng6 giu1 jau4

Cantonese word readings for 火上澆油. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(figurative) to add fuel to the fire (to worsen a conflict)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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