Made to resist burning or protect something from catching fire; unable to be harmed by fire.
Compound of 'fire' (from Old English 'fȳr') and 'proof' (from Old French 'prueve,' meaning 'test' or 'able to withstand'). The '-proof' suffix became popular in compounds in the 19th century with industrial development.
Modern buildings use 'fireproof' materials like asbestos historically (now banned), and modern solutions use specially treated gypsum—but no material is actually completely fireproof; engineers use the term to mean 'resistant enough to give people time to escape,' which is a key distinction.
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