Firebrand

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈfaɪə.bɹænd/

Definitions

1. A person who incites violent or passionate political action and upheaval, or a torch or burning stick used to ignite fires
2. Someone who provokes intense feelings or motivates energetic activity ; a glowing or flaming stick used to ignite materials
3. An individual who incites enthusiasm or agitation in others ; a torch-like fragment of wood burning with fire

Etymology: A firebrand was, quite literally, a piece of burning wood. Medieval households and workshops relied on it for light and heat, and the word joins "fire" and "brand," the latter an older English term for a piece of burning or charred wood, a sense it kept long after the metaphor took over. The compound appears in Middle English as "fyr-brand" and "furbrond," and German has the same construction in "Feuerbrand," so the pairing is a shared Germanic pattern rather than a borrowing from one language into another. The leap to a person who stirs up trouble is easy to follow. A brand thrown into dry straw starts a blaze that spreads, and the image of a man or woman who sets others alight with rebellious speech grew naturally from that picture. The figurative sense of someone who incites enthusiasm or agitation carries the same sense of a spark that catches quickly among people.

Synonyms: agitator, incendiary, radical