Other forms: arsons
Arson is the crime of setting fire to a building on purpose. Charged with arson, an arson attack, suspected arson.
In English law it is criminal damage by fire, and arson with intent to endanger life carries a maximum of life imprisonment. Fire investigators look for multiple seat points and accelerants to distinguish it from an accident. Note arsonist, the person; and that arson is one of the hardest crimes to prove, because the evidence is by definition burnt.
1nounarsonThe crime of setting fire to a building on purpose.
“Police believe the school fire was arson, as petrol was found at the scene.”
arson is a crime.
Old French arson comes from Latin ardere, to burn — the same verb as in ardent and arid. The word entered English as a legal term in the thirteenth century and has never had any other use.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eHs-
Latin
ardeō — to burn
Old French
arson
English, today
arson
From Anglo-Norman - and Old French arson, from the verb ardoir, from Latin ardeō (“to burn”). Compare ardent.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA