Echar leña al fuego
Meaning: To make a bad situation worse.
Language: Spanish
Literally: To throw wood on the fire
Category: Nature
Origin: Adding fuel to flames is a classical image, used in Spanish for inflaming an already heated conflict.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Jeter de l'huile sur le feu — literally: To throw oil on the fire
- Chinese: 雪上加霜 (Xuě shàng jiā shuāng) — literally: To add frost on top of snow
More idioms — Nature
- Prendere lucciole per lanterne — To be completely and badly mistaken.
- Ficar a ver navios — To be left disappointed and empty-handed.
- Att kasta yxan i sjön — To give up completely.
- At save den gren over man selv sidder på — To undermine your own position.
- At gå over åen efter vand — To do something in a needlessly roundabout way.
- Mennä metsään — To go completely wrong.
More Spanish idioms
- Tener más cara que espalda — To be utterly shameless and brazen.
- Tener mala uva — To have a nasty temper or ill intentions.
- Ponerse como una sopa — To get soaked to the bone.
- Estar hasta en la sopa — To be everywhere; impossible to avoid.
- Buscarle tres pies al gato — To overcomplicate things; to look for trouble.
- Estar frito — To be fed up or worn out.
From our proverbs
- The better the day, the better the deed. — Good fortune amplifies moral responsibility—prosperity demands virtue, not vice.
- Do as you are bidden and you'll never be to blame. — Obedience absolves you from responsibility when following orders, shielding you from crit…
- Every bird must hatch her own egg. — Each creature bears sole responsibility for nurturing what they themselves have created o…