災
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Translingual
Han character
災 (radical 86 火+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 女女火 (VVF), four-corner 22809, composition ⿱巛火)
References
- KangXi: page 666, character 18
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 18879
- Dae Jaweon: page 1075, character 23
- Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2190, character 6
- Unihan data for U+707D
Chinese
| trad. | 災 | |
|---|---|---|
| simp. | 灾 | |
| alt. forms | ||
Glyph origin
| Characters in the same phonetic series (災) (Zhengzhang, 2003) | |
|---|---|
| Old Chinese | |
| 灾 | *ʔsɯː |
| 災 | *ʔslɯː |
Pronunciation
Definitions
災
- calamity; disaster; catastrophe
- stricken; disaster-affected; disaster-afflicted
Compounds
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Japanese
Kanji
Readings
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 災 |
| さい Grade: 5 |
| on’yomi |
From Middle Chinese 災 (tsoj, “calamity”).
Pronunciation
Noun
- an act of God, a disaster, a calamity
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
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 災 |
| わざわい Grade: 5 |
| kun’yomi |
/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 with the trailing okurigana い to make the reading more explicit.
Pronunciation
Alternative forms
Noun
災 (hiragana わざわい, rōmaji wazawai, historical hiragana わざはひ)
- an act of God, a disaster, a calamity
Idioms
- 災を転じて福と為す (wazawai o tenjite fuku to nasu): “to turn a calamity into good fortune”
References
Korean
Hanja
災 • (jae) (hangeul 재, revised jae, McCune–Reischauer chae, Yale cay)
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Vietnamese
Han character
災 (tai)
- This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
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