禍水

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Chinese

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disaster water; river
trad. (禍水)
simp. (祸水)
Literally: “water of calamity”.

Etymology

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Originally used to describe Empress Xiaocheng (Zhao Feiyan), an empress during the Han dynasty, in the erotic fiction Feiyan Waizhuan.

Empress Xiaocheng was known for her slender build, also giving rise partly to the idiom 環肥燕瘦 (literally “plump Huan, slender Fei”).

Pronunciation

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Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial () (33) (26)
Final () (95) (18)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Closed Closed
Division () I III
Fanqie
Baxter hwaX sywijX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ɦuɑX/ /ɕˠiuɪX/
Pan
Wuyun
/ɦuɑX/ /ɕʷᵚiX/
Shao
Rongfen
/ɣuɑX/ /ɕiuɪX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ɦwaX/ /ɕjwiX/
Li
Rong
/ɣuɑX/ /ɕjuiX/
Wang
Li
/ɣuɑX/ /ɕwiX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ɣuɑX/ /ɕwiX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
huò shuǐ
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
wo6 seoi2

Noun

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禍水

  1. (figurative) charming beauty, as a source of calamity; femme fatale
  2. (figurative, in general) person or thing that causes great trouble or suffering; scourge; vicious power; bane

Derived terms

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