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campfire

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Etymology and origin of the English word campfire

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1675
Ultimate origins
Middle French campProto-Germanic *fuir
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English camp
English campfire
From the same root
English camper ← camp

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkæmpˌfaɪ̯ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English camp + fire.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An open-air fire in a camp, for warmth, light or cooking: Merriam-Webster gives 1675 as its first known use,[5][6] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1665–75.[4] The OED, in its entry revised in 2023, first records it in 1758, in Macpherson's Highlander,[2] and Etymonline only in 1835.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the fire itself the word passed to a gathering held around one, or as if around one (1865).[2] In the United States a campfire was a reunion of the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, the society of Union veterans of the Civil War: Etymonline dates this use to 1874,[3] the OED to 1884.[2] From 1912 Camp Fire was the name of an American youth organization founded in 1910 as a sister to the Boy Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls.[2]

Timeline

  • 1675 – a fire built outdoors in a camp.[5][6] The OED's first record is from 1758.[2]
  • 1865 – a social gathering held around a campfire.[2]
  • 1874 – a reunion of members of the Grand Army of the Republic.[3] The OED's first record of this use is from 1884.[2]
  • 1912 – the American youth organization Camp Fire (the Camp Fire Girls).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fire built outdoors, as in a camp or on a picnic, for cooking, warmth or light, often the centre of a social gathering: The scouts told ghost stories around the campfire.[5][7][2]
  2. A meeting or gathering held around such a fire.[7][2]
  3. (US) A reunion of members of the Grand Army of the Republic.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Cite this entry

“Campfire.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/campfire. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·