This is the 5480th most frequent Korean word.
말릴
"말릴" means "to dry" or "to stop/prevent" depending on context.
Here, '말릴' originates from '말리다', meaning 'to dissuade or stop someone'. It refers to attempting to change someone's decision or action.
그의 결정을 말릴 수 없었어요.
I couldn't stop his decision.
In this context, '말릴' implies preventing or stopping something undesirable, in this case, a fire.
화재를 말릴 수 있는 방법이 없었습니다.
There was no way to prevent the fire.
In this sentence, '말릴' comes from the verb '말리다', meaning 'to dry'. Here it denotes the action of drying clothes.