What the fire emoji means: lit, hot, on a streak
Fire is a single orange flame with a yellow heart, and almost nobody uses it for an actual fire. Its everyday meaning is this is excellent: a new song, a photo, a goal, an outfit, a joke. One flame is approval, three is a rave, and is as high as praise goes in a comment section. The slang words behind it are "lit" and "fire" itself ("that track is fire"), and the same reading holds in every language that borrowed the emoji, which is why people search for its meaning in Hindi, Tamil or Malayalam and get the same answer. The second meaning is hot in the attractive sense, and the third is literal heat: a heatwave, a spicy dish, a sunburn.
Two newer flames carry feelings. Heart on Fire (Emoji 13.1, on phones since 2021) is passion, desire or a love that burns, and a few people use it for a burning heartbreak; it is really and joined by an invisible joiner, so an old phone shows it as two characters side by side. Phoenix (Emoji 15.1, 2024) is the bird that rises from its own ashes, the emoji for a comeback, recovery or starting over, built the same way from and . and are the fire-breathing dragons of fantasy and the Chinese zodiac, and they open most "dragon fire" combos. Collision is the bang: an impact, an explosion, a mind blown, and is the same idea happening to a head.
Fire emoji meaning from a guy or a girl, on Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp
Under a photo on Instagram or in a WhatsApp reply, from a guy or a girl means they think you look hot, or that what you posted is great; which one depends on whether the picture is of you or of your lunch. It is a light compliment, not a confession, and or pushes it further toward flirting while or keeps it to admiration. A reply of just to a long message is the fast version of "love it". Among friends it also means hype before an event (tonight is going to be ) and praise for a hot take , the "spitting fire" combo for someone who said exactly the right thing.
On Snapchat has a mechanical meaning: it appears next to a friend's name once you have snapped each other on three or more days in a row, with the number of days of the Snapstreak beside it, and an hourglass warns that the streak is about to end. That is why "fire emoji snapchat" is one of the most searched questions about any emoji. Two more idioms are worth knowing: is a dumpster fire, a situation that has gone completely wrong, and quotes the "this is fine" cartoon dog sipping coffee in a burning room.
Candle, lamp, firecracker and fireworks emoji
The small flames people light have their own emoji. Candle (Unicode 7.0, 2014) is the quiet one: a vigil, a memorial, a prayer, a power cut or a candlelit dinner, and it is the emoji people copy in a ring to make a "candle circle" for someone who has died. Diya Lamp is the clay oil lamp lit for Diwali (see Diwali Emoji), Red Paper Lantern is the lantern hung outside a Japanese izakaya and at Lunar New Year, and Menorah is the nine-branched candelabrum of Hanukkah. is a flashlight, or a torch if you are British, which is why it turns up in searches for a torch emoji. For smoke, is the puff and the lit cigarette.
The loud flames are Firecracker, a red stick of dynamite with a burning fuse that stands for Chinese New Year crackers, Diwali and anything about to go off; Fireworks for a display in the night sky; Sparkler for the hand-held kind; and Bomb, more often "a bombshell" or "the bomb" than a weapon. Rocket belongs here for its tail of flame, the launch emoji for anything taking off. Compare the bigger celebration sets in New Year Emoji and Congratulations Emoji.
Hot emoji: heat, spice and steam
When the heat is the point, start with Hot Face, red and sweating with its tongue out: a heatwave, a workout, a sauna or someone very attractive. Melting Face is the newer way to say the heat (or embarrassment) is dissolving you, and Face with Steam from Nose is heat of temper, fuming. Give the number with Thermometer and the degree sign: 38 or 100 . and are the sun doing the heating, the desert, and the jolt of energy that pairs with in hype messages.
Hot Pepper is spicy food and, by extension, spicy content or a spicy person. Hot Springs is the oldest heat symbol of all: the three wisps of steam over a bath are the Japanese map sign for an onsen, encoded in Unicode 1.1 back in 1993, and the emoji still means a hot bath, a sauna or something steaming. is the person sitting in that steam. Fire also cooks: frying, and simmering, fondue over a burner, and on the barbecue, and the sweet potato roasted over hot stones that is sold from carts in Japanese winters.
Fire engine, fire extinguisher and fire symbols as text
The fire crew is Fire Engine, Firefighter, Fire Extinguisher (Emoji 11.0, 2018, the same year as and ), the rescue helmet, the siren light, warning and no smoking. reads as "fire, dealt with", and on its own is the emoji for putting out a drama. The fuel side is Wood, Axe, and for the campfire, Volcano for the fire that comes out of the ground and Comet for the fireball that falls from the sky. There is no dedicated campfire or bonfire emoji; is the standard way to write one. For the whole emergency vocabulary see Emergency & Disaster Emoji; for lightning and power, Electricity, Power & Lightning Symbols.
When you need a fire symbol that is text, not an emoji, in a username, a Minecraft sign or a plain-text bio, use , the upward triangle alchemists drew for the element of fire, or the I Ching trigram Li, the clinging fire, with its hexagram . The Chinese and Japanese character 火 is the one most people searching for a Japanese fire symbol want: it is read huǒ in Mandarin and hi or ka in Japanese, 灬 and are its radical forms, 炎 doubles it into blaze (and inflammation in medical words), 焱 triples it, 焰 is a flame, 燃 to burn, 焼 the yaki of yakitori, 爆 to explode, 煙 smoke, 熱 heat, 灯 a lamp and 燭 a candle. is Tuesday in Japanese and Korean calendars, the day of fire. is a text sun, a fire engine that exists only as a text character, and are four frames of a cartoon explosion from the legacy computing block, which few fonts show yet. More of the elemental signs are in Alchemy Symbols and Yin Yang & I Ching Symbols.
Symbolen
78Klik op een symbool om het te kopiëren en de pagina ervan te openen.
Fire and flames
The fire emoji itself, the flames that carry a feeling, and the things that go bang.
Hot
Heat, temperature, spice and steam.
How to use them
6 situationsKlik om te kopiërenFire Emoji combos
15Goed om te weten
- Hot Springs is older than every other emoji here: the three wisps of steam are the Japanese map symbol for an onsen and were encoded in Unicode 1.1 in 1993, seventeen years before arrived with Unicode 6.0 in 2010.
- is officially named Izakaya Lantern after the red lanterns hung outside Japanese pubs, and has a text-only twin, Oncoming Fire Engine , which was added to Unicode in 2014 but never became an emoji.
- Heart on Fire and Phoenix have no code points of their own: each is an older emoji followed by an invisible joiner and , which is why an old phone shows them as a heart or a bird next to a flame.
- is a circled 火 and means Tuesday: in Japanese and Korean the weekdays are named after the five elements plus sun and moon, and Tuesday (火曜日, kayōbi) is the day of fire, as it is in Romance languages after Mars.
- On Snapchat a beside a name is not a compliment but a counter: it appears after three consecutive days of snaps and shows how long the Snapstreak has run.
Veelgestelde vragen
8How do I copy and paste the fire emoji?
Tap or click in the grid above and it is copied; paste it with CtrlV or a long press. It works on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Discord.
What does the fire emoji mean?
usually means something is excellent, "lit" or "fire": a song, a photo, a goal, an outfit. It also means hot in the attractive sense, literal heat, and on Snapchat a Snapstreak. Context decides which.
What does the fire emoji mean from a guy or a girl?
Under a picture of you it means they find you hot; under anything else it means they think it is great. It is a casual compliment. Paired with or it is flirting; paired with or it is just praise.
What does the fire emoji mean on Snapchat?
It marks a Snapstreak: you and that friend have sent each other snaps on at least three days in a row, and the number next to is how many days. An hourglass means the streak will end soon unless one of you snaps.
Is there a fire symbol that is text, not an emoji?
Yes. is the alchemical sign for fire, the I Ching trigram for fire, and 火 the Chinese and Japanese character for fire; 炎 and 焰 are flame. They paste as plain text in usernames and bios, though a very old device may show as a box.
What is the Japanese symbol for fire?
火, read hi or ka. It is the same character in Chinese (huǒ). 炎 is a blaze, 焼 the yaki of yakitori and yakiniku, and is the circled 火 used for Tuesday, the day of fire.
Is there a campfire or bonfire emoji?
No single one. Combine camping or tent with and wood: . Many people just send for a fire in the fireplace.
What is the fire heart emoji meaning?
Heart on Fire means passionate love or desire, a heart that is burning for someone; some people also use it for a love that hurts. From a guy or a girl it is stronger than and much more romantic than alone.
