- incendiary
- "person who sets malicious fires" (n.), 1606; "concerning malicious fires" (adj.), 1611, from L. incendiarius (n.), from incendium "conflagration," from incendere "set on fire," from in- "in" + *candere "to set alight, cause to glow," related to candere "to shine" (see candle). Fig. sense of "enflaming passions" (adj.) is from 1614. Military use, of bombs, shells, etc., attested from 1871. The obsolete verb incend is attested from 1502.