fierce flames; raging fire
Describes intensely violent, destructive flames, often in dramatic or literary contexts.
Fierce flames engulfed the building.
The firefighters battled the raging flames.
烈火 also means raging fire, but is more common in everyday language and idiomatic expressions.
Standard kanji spelling for fierce flames.
Variant kanji spelling using 焔 (flame); less common than 猛炎.
Compound of 猛 (もう, fierce) and 炎 (えん, flame). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word follows a common Sino-Japanese pattern for intense natural phenomena.