How to say "blaze" in Japanese

• 火ひJLPT N4approx.Common
  nounThe everyday word for fire. When English 'blaze' just means a fire burning strongly, this is the neutral, all-purpose choice, whether the fire warms a room or devours a building.
  いすをもっと火ひの近ちかくに寄よせなさい。↗

  Draw your chair closer to the fire.
• 炎ほのおJLPT N3approx.Common
  nounThe flames themselves — what rises, flickers and glows — rather than fire as an event. Choose it when 'blaze' means the sheet of flame you see rising from something burning.
  硫黄いおうは青あおい炎ほのおを上あげて燃もえる。↗

  Sulfur burns with a blue flame.
• 火炎かえんCommon
  nounAlso 'flame; blaze', but it treats the flames as a bare phenomenon and sounds technical; you meet it mostly in news reports and technical writing about fires, seldom in everyday speech.
• 火の手ひのてCommon
  expression, nounFlames leaping up and spreading, pictured as tongues of fire rising from a burning building or hillside. It suits vivid descriptions of a blaze taking hold, not plain talk about fire.
  雨あめで火の手ひのては広ひろがらずにすんだ。↗

  The rain kept the fire from spreading.
• 流れ星ながれぼしCommon
  nounNot a fire word at all: it names the wide white stripe running down a horse's face. For the burning sense of 'blaze' this is not the word you want.

火 is the everyday word for a blaze as fire, 炎 the flames themselves, 火炎 the stiffer, more technical word, 「火の手」 flames leaping and spreading; 「流れ星」 covers only the white stripe on a horse's face.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 火ひfire
• 炎ほのおflame
• 火炎かえんflame
• 火の手ひのてflame
• 燃え盛るもえさかるto blaze
• 流れ星ながれぼしblaze (wide white stripe down the face of a horse)
• 火がつくひがつくto flare up (of an emotion, controversy, etc.)