Definition

1. Noun (Literary, Archaic):
   • War; warfare; the calamity of war. This term is a classical, literary compound referring to the destructive phenomena of armed conflict, specifically evoking the images of fire and weapons. It describes a state of war or its devastating consequences.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Lửa binh đâu đã ầm ầm một phương. (The calamity of war was already rumbling loudly across one region.)
  • Tránh cho dân chúng cảnh lửa binh. (To spare the people from the scourge of war.)
  • Bao nhiêu năm lửa binh đã tàn phá đất nước. (So many years of warfare have devastated the country.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "lửa binh" is a Sino-Vietnamese compound (兵火 in Chinese), where "binh" (兵) means soldiers/weapons and "lửa" (火) means fire. It is primarily found in classical poetry and historical texts. In modern Vietnamese, more common terms like "chiến tranh" (war) or "chiến loạn" (strife) are used.

Variants and Related Words

• Binh đao (n, literary): Another classical term for war, literally "swords and spears."
• Binh lửa (n, literary): A variant with the same word order as the original Chinese, identical in meaning to "lửa binh."
• Can qua (n, literary): War, derived from the words for shield and spear.

Synonyms

• War: A state of armed conflict.
• Warfare: The waging of war.
• Hostilities: Acts of warfare.
• Armed conflict: A fight using armed forces.

Related Idioms

• Lửa binh tàn khốc: The brutal ravages of war.
  • Thành phố hứng chịu lửa binh tàn khốc. (The city endured the brutal ravages of war.)

1. (từ cũ; nghĩa cũ) Fine and sword, war, warfare