a very large dangerous fire that is out of control 无法控制的大火 a blazing/raging inferno 熊熊的/烈焰冲天的火海 The flames quickly turned the house into a raging inferno. 烈焰很快将房子变成了熊熊火海。 Three men managed to escape from the inferno. 三个人设法逃离了地狱。
Word Originmid 19th cent.: from Italian, from Christian Latin infernus ‘below, underground’, used by Christians to mean ‘hell’, on the pattern of inferni (masculine plural) ‘the shades’ and inferna (neuter plural) ‘the lower regions’.