災わざわい

わ

ざ

わ

い

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

noun

disaster; calamity; misfortune

Refers to a serious unfortunate event or state of suffering, often with a sense of something beyond one's control. Can be used in both concrete and abstract contexts.

地じ震しんは大おおきな災わざわいをもたらした。
The earthquake brought great disaster.
彼かれの不ふ

注ちゅう

意い

が

災わざわ

い

し

て

、

事じ

故こ

が

起お

き

た

。

His carelessness caused the accident (literally: his carelessness turned into a misfortune).

Written forms

災わざわいUsage77%
Standard kanji spelling; high priority.
禍わざわいUsage12%
Alternate kanji form, often used in literary or formal contexts.
わざわいUsage10%
殃わざわいUsage1%
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form.

Kanji

災disaster, calamity, woe
禍calamity, misfortune, evil
殃misfortune, disaster, calamity

Similar words

災さい難なん
災難 often refers to a sudden, unexpected accident or mishap, while 災い can be a broader, more prolonged state of misfortune or calamity.
不ふ幸こう
不幸 is a general term for unhappiness or bad luck, often used for personal misfortune, whereas 災い implies a larger-scale or more severe disaster.

Etymology

The word is of native Japanese origin. The kanji 災 and 禍 both convey the idea of disaster or misfortune. The exact derivation of the reading わざわい is uncertain.