災
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Translingual
Han character
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災 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 女女火 (VVF), four-corner 22809, composition ⿱巛火)
Derived characters
- 𨓌, 𨉒, 𤑹, 𭴠
References
- KangXi: page 666, character 18
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 18879
- Dae Jaweon: page 1075, character 23
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2190, character 6
- Unihan data for U+707D
- Unihan data for U+2F918
Chinese
trad. | 災/灾 | |
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simp. | 灾 | |
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Glyph origin
Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 巛 (“flowing water”) + 火 (“fire”) – two main types of disaster, fire (conflagration) and flowing water (flooding).
Etymology
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa-t ~ dza-t (“hot, fever, hurt, ill, temper”); cognate with 菑 (OC *ʔsrɯ, *ʔsɯː, *ʔsɯː) "field cleared by slash and burn" (STEDT), which is its r-causative (Schuessler, 2007).
Pronunciation
Definitions
災
- (literary, or in compounds) calamity; disaster; catastrophe
- (literary, or in compounds) personal misfortune
- (literary, or in compounds) stricken; disaster-affected; disaster-afflicted
Synonyms
- (calamity):
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Compounds
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Japanese
Readings
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [sa̠i]
Usage notes
Seldom used on its own. Most often used in compounds.
Derived terms
- 災害 (saigai): disaster, calamity (emphasis on the damage therefrom)
- 災難 (sainan): misfortune, disaster, catastrophe
- 火災 (kasai): conflagration, fire
Etymology 2
Kanji in this term |
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災 |
わざわい Grade: 5 |
kun’yomi |
Alternative spellings |
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災い 禍 殃 |
/wazapapi/ → /wazaɸaɸi/ → /wazawahi/ → /wazawai/
From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 業 (waza, “deed, doings”), in reference to the doings of the 神 (kami, “gods, spirits”) + 這い (hai, “spreading widely”, literally “crawling”).[1] Compare the etymology of 幸 (sakiwai, “good fortune”). Compare also the connotations of the English term act of God in reference to disasters.
Often spelled 災い (wazawai) with the trailing okurigana い (i) to make the reading more explicit.
Idioms
- 災を転じて福と為す (wazawai o tenjite fuku to nasu): “to turn a calamity into good fortune” → when life gives you lemons, make lemonade
References
- 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN