What are some words to describe the sound of a fire and its flames? I already know "crackle" but there is a sound that big flames produce which is not crackle. He got closer to the burning car and could hear the sound of the flames. I want to learn words that could work instead of the underlined part.
Interesting question! Never thought about the sound a fire makes outside of crackle. But I think it's kinda of hard to say anything memorable, fire is mostly known for its dancing flames and the heat. Maybe "spitting"? I.e. "the fire crackled and spitted". It's not really the appropriate word for a sound, but it's the only one I can think off.
Roar, bellow, rumble… I don’t know of English words specific to fire, but I’d be curious to find out.
I have this book but haven't really used it, I figure this would be a good reference for edits and I haven't gotten there yet: https://www.amazon.com/Thesaurus-Senses-Linda-Hart/dp/0988839970 I want to point out that although this book is fairly thick at almost 400 pages, it has a lot of repetition since words are repeated across multiple entries. So it may not be worth the cost if you have access to a good regular thesaurus and a decent vocabulary. You'd have to do some further research to confirm if one of the suggestions is really a good fit. In addition to what has already been suggested, you could say 'hiss', 'pop', 'whirl', 'sizzle' or 'whistle' but it depends on what type of fire you are talking about and what is burning. An object or site that has a lot of water will sound different than something very dry, metal will sound different than wood, etc.
Why not break down exactly what is being heard? The effects of the heat on the materials involved. "As he approached the burning car he could hear the flames flutter in the breeze, the hiss of boiling fluids and the groans of expanding hot metal. A tire popped with a loud retort, spraying chunks of burning, stinking rubber. The car settled and flames jumped with an audible whoomp."
I think it's better to get narration over with quickly than to over-burnish mundane things. As a crashed car might be. Straightaway this would be tighter as:- He got closer to the burning car and could hear the flames. The subjunctive can probably come out too:- He got closer to the burning car and heard the flames. Depending what text went before, "burning" is probably also redundant. He got closer to the car He got closer to the flames He got closer Closer... the roar of flames. Finnicky, brutal editing opens more options. The sound might not have to be a fire-sound now. Closer... the clamor of flames. Closer... the hue and cry of flames. Does what he hears matter, or where he's standing? Could there be a reaction shot? Some detail he notices that's peculiar to him > Its significance to him The tyres spread out and bubbled, like rubber-stinking marshmallows. It was wider, louder, and grown-uppier than when he burned her toy car. This opens up pretty much the whole thesaurus. Onomatopoiea is an oft-overlooked device. He got closer to the car [tramp.tramp.tramp]. It was burning [fzzzz.rzzz.zzz.] The people inside were scared [bang.bang.bang.] The police sirens were getting closer [woo.woo.WOO.]
spit or spat in simple past. For a fire, I'd more likely choose spit; for a person, spat. But the distinction is merely a stylistic preference, not a matter of correctness. Spitted sounds like ESL in this sense -- plus it's just plain incorrect, though it would be right for describing something impaled on a rotisserie spit. I agree that whoomp is a great word to keep in mind in connection with fire. Among other things, it's exactly the sound you get if you try to use gasoline as lighter fluid for charcoal.
BTW your instinct was good about crackling and spitting. Google Ngrams shows that crackled and spat has been a traditional combination since 1900, compared with no instances of crackled and spit. Personally, I'd still go with spit, but that's because of the tone of my current main project, which for the most part tends to understatement. It would appear that he spit was more prevalent than he spat until about 1830, but it has never disappeared.
If you want to get really specific.... Different materials make different sounds when they burn. For example, you could hear sizzling as the paint burns off. Wheezing or even a pop as something with air (an airbag or even the slow release of the air from tires). Maybe even a hiss as windshield wiper fluids evaporate and a CRACK as the glass splinters
I think the best idea I've read in here has to be the different material thing. That allows you freedom to write a more special way of something burning. Fire in itself doesn't lend to being described too colourfully.
Blazed doesn't seem like sound description to be honest. It makes more sense visually or as an action. E.g. "A fire blazed across the field" or "a blazing fire erupted" but "a blazing fire echoed" or "a fire blazing could be heard" doesn't sound right.
Yes. I’ve seen them blazing, never heard them blazing, though. Although, maybe. “From behind the huge wall, I could hear the fire blazing furiously.” Strictly speaking, though, this still isn’t describing the noise as ‘blaze’.
I just now remembered that when you're close to a fire of a certain size (larger than a burn-drum) that has plenty of fuel and air, and especially if wind is blowing on it, there's a strong sound that's less than a roar but more like the rush of wind in your ears on a windy day at the beach. Myself, I'd even consider using "rush" to name the flame-sound, but I'd have to give it more consideration, and I'd be looking for other words to describe that particular variety of fire sound. In fact, it's like the sound of blowing gently and steadily across a microphone, sort of a frumf.
I know the sound you are talking about, it's hard to describe but it sounds like a "powerful" fire, when the flames are dangerous to get close to.
If I were to invent an onomatopoeic noun for that kind of flame sound, I might call it frummel or frumbling or frumfle or fruffle. But you can only get away with that in certain kinds of writing. And none of these is quite satisfying. Huffing of flames. Muffled roar? Contained roar? Beating of flames? Another thing it's similar to is the beating/flapping of a large flag in a heavy wind.
Whoofing? Wiktionary compares it to the sound of a bear or a steam engine, which I take to mean low-frequency steam exhaust, not mid- or high-frequency venting.
Whuffling. To my (not quite) surprise, it's even a real word, and it means the kind of low beating and subdued roaring sound I tried to describe a few replies ago. I had never pondered this question before, but I'm sure that whuffling is the word I'll use if I ever need one for the flames of an intense car-sized fire in the future.
Ok I got it! Billowing! "I heard the flame billowing out!" "the loud billowing fire" It's not an audible description. But I think it fits pretty perfectly with the idea of a large flame causing this sound by burning so much oxygen in the air that it's causing that weird whooshing sound. The sound itself sounds stupid when you describe it as a "whoosh", but travalgar kinda made me think if a non audible word could still sort of convey the sound. Anyway what you guys think?
