Englishplay with fire
Meaning: To invite disaster by doing something foolish, dangerous, or risky.
Example: “Investing your savings in that scheme is playing with fire.”
Equivalents in other languages
Arabic: رمى بنفسه في التهلكة (ramā bi-nafsihi fī at-tahluka) Literally: He threw himself into destruction/ruin.
Portuguese: brincar com fogo Literally: To play with fire
Origin: The underlying warning — that meddling with something dangerous eventually gets you burned — is old and cross-cultural, showing up in ancient Chinese, Greek, and Roman writing well before it settled into this specific English wording. The first clearly documented English use is by the poet Henry Vaughan in 1655, in a work titled The Garland, and John Wesley's 1782 letter has a version close to the modern one: "if you play with fire, will you not be burnt sooner or later?" By the mid-1800s the phrase had become a standard, widely recognized caution against courting unnecessary risk.
More English idioms
- too many irons in the fire Too many activities demanding one's time.
- turn over a new leaf To change one's bad ways and begin to lead a better life.
- under a cloud Less than entirely trustworthy; suspected of some wrongdoing.
- under the weather Unwell; ill.
- water under the bridge Past and finished; over and done with.
- the wave of the future A strong, growing trend.
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