災

See also: 灾 and 烖

災 U+2F918, 災 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F918 ← 灊 [U+2F917] CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 灷 → [U+2F919]

Translingual

Han character

災 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 女女火 (VVF), four-corner 2280₉, composition ⿱巛火)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: 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

---

Chinese

trad.		災
simp.		灾
alternative forms		𤆎 灾 烖／灾 𡿧 甾 𤆎 灾 烖／灾 𡿧 甾 菑 𤉣

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (災) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
灾	*ʔsɯː
災	*ʔslɯː

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zāi (zai¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄗㄞ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zoi¹
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): châi

  (Meixian, Guangdong): zai¹

• Eastern Min (BUC): căi
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): che / cher / chai

  (Teochew, Peng'im): zai¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zāi
    • Zhuyin: ㄗㄞ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zai
    • Wade–Giles: tsai¹
    • Yale: dzāi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzai
    • Palladius: цзай (czaj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡saɪ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: zoi¹
    • Yale: jōi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzoi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: zoi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɔːi̯⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: châi
    • Hakka Romanization System: zai´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: zai¹
    • Sinological IPA: /t͡sai̯²⁴/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: zai¹
    • Sinological IPA: /t͡saɪ⁴⁴/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: căi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sai⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taichung, Hsinchu, Yilan, Magong)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: che
    • Tâi-lô: tse
    • Phofsit Daibuun: zef
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Yilan): /t͡se⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Lukang, Sanxia, Hsinchu, Kinmen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: cher
    • Tâi-lô: tser
    • IPA (Quanzhou, Lukang): /t͡sə³³/
    • IPA (Kinmen): /t͡sə⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chai
    • Tâi-lô: tsai
    • Phofsit Daibuun: zay
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /t͡sai⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /t͡sai³³/

Note:

• che/cher - vernacular;
• chai - literary.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: zai¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tsai
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sai³³/

---

• Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 災
Mandarin	Beijing	/t͡sai⁵⁵/
	Harbin	/t͡sai⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/t͡sai²¹/
	Jinan	/t͡sɛ²¹³/
	Qingdao	/t͡sɛ²¹³/
	Zhengzhou	/t͡sai²⁴/
	Xi'an	/t͡sai²¹/
	Xining	/t͡sɛ⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/t͡sɛ⁴⁴/
	Lanzhou	/t͡sɛ³¹/
	Ürümqi	/t͡sai⁴⁴/
	Wuhan	/t͡sai⁵⁵/
	Chengdu	/t͡sai⁵⁵/
	Guiyang	/t͡sai⁵⁵/
	Kunming	/t͡sæ⁴⁴/
	Nanjing	/t͡sae³¹/
	Hefei	/t͡se̞²¹/
Jin	Taiyuan	/t͡sai¹¹/
	Pingyao	/t͡sæ¹³/
	Hohhot	/t͡sɛ³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/t͡se⁵³/
	Suzhou	/t͡se̞⁵⁵/
	Hangzhou	/t͡se̞³³/
	Wenzhou	/t͡se³³/
Hui	Shexian	/t͡sɛ³¹/
	Tunxi	/t͡sə¹¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/t͡sai³³/
	Xiangtan	/t͡sai³³/
Gan	Nanchang	/t͡sai⁴²/
Hakka	Meixian	/t͡sai⁴⁴/
	Taoyuan	/t͡sɑi²⁴/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/t͡sɔi⁵³/
	Nanning	/t͡sɔi⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/t͡sɔi⁵⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Hokkien)	/t͡sai⁵⁵/ /t͡se⁵⁵/
	Fuzhou (Eastern Min)	/t͡sai⁴⁴/
	Jian'ou (Northern Min)	/t͡suɛ⁵⁴/
	Shantou (Teochew)	/t͡sai³³/
	Haikou (Hainanese)	/t͡sai²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: tsoj

Rime
Character	災
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	精 (13)
Final (韻)	咍 (41)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	祖才切
Baxter	tsoj
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡sʌi/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡səi/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡sɒi/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/t͡səj/
Li Rong	/t͡sᴀi/
Wang Li	/t͡sɒi/
Bernard Karlgren	/t͡sɑ̆i/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	zāi
Expected Cantonese Reflex	zoi1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ts]ˤə/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ʔslɯː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	災
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	zāi
Middle Chinese	‹ tsoj ›
Old Chinese	/*[ts]ˁə/
English	calamity
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	災
Reading #	1/1
No.	16487
Phonetic component	災
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	烖
Old Chinese	/*ʔslɯː/
Notes	烖籀文

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 災

1. calamity; disaster; catastrophe
2. stricken; disaster-affected; disaster-afflicted

Compounds

(deprecated template usage)

---

Japanese

Kanji

災

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kun: わざわい (wazawai, 災い, Jōyō)^{←わざはひ (wazafafi, 災ひ, historical)}

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
災
さい Grade: 5
on’yomi

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Chinese 災／灾 (tsoj, “calamity”).

Noun

災(さい) • (sai) 

1. an act of God, a disaster, a calamity

Usage notes

Seldom used on its own. Most often used in compounds.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 災害(さいがい) (saigai): disaster, calamity (emphasis on the damage therefrom)
• 災難(さいなん) (sainan): misfortune, disaster, catastrophe
• 火(か)災(さい) (kasai): conflagration, fire

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
災
わざわい Grade: 5
kun’yomi

/wazapapi/ → /wazaɸaɸi/ → /wazawahi/ → /wazawai/

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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”). 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.

Alternative forms

• 災い, 禍, 殃

Noun

災(わざわい) • (wazawai) ^{←わざはひ (wazafafi)?}

1. an act of God, a disaster, a calamity

Idioms

Idioms

• 災(わざわい)を転(てん)じて福(ふく)と為(な)す (wazawai o tenjite fuku to nasu): “to turn a calamity into good fortune”

---

Korean

Hanja

災 • (jae) (hangeul 재, revised jae, McCune–Reischauer chae, Yale cay)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 災 (tai)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.