Kindling is small, dry pieces of wood or other materials that catch fire easily and help start a larger fire. When building a campfire or lighting a fireplace, you begin with kindling: thin twigs, wood shavings, or small sticks that ignite quickly from a match or lighter. Once the kindling is burning well, you can add bigger logs that would be too thick to light directly.

Think of kindling as the bridge between a tiny flame and a roaring fire. A match alone won't ignite a heavy log, but it will light dry leaves or thin twigs. Those burning twigs then produce enough heat to catch slightly larger sticks, which eventually make the big logs catch fire. Without good kindling, even the driest firewood won't burn.

The word can also describe the act of starting a fire: you might say you're kindling a fire in the woodstove on a cold morning. People sometimes use kindle more broadly to mean sparking or awakening something, like when a great teacher kindles curiosity in students or an inspiring book kindles someone's imagination.