foxfire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the faint glow produced by bioluminescent fungi growing on decaying wood

   Foxfire shone with a greenish light from the rotten logs.

2. 2
   noun

   decaying wood that glows because it contains bioluminescent fungi

   They carried a piece of foxfire to mark the path through the dark cave.

The second element is fire, but the first is uncertain. Fox may be literal, a folk reshaping of French fol, 'false,' or an altered form connected with phosphor. The term has long named the cold light emitted by certain fungi in rotting wood.

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