災い

• 読み: わざわい
• ローマ字: wazawai
• 漢字の分解: 災 (wazawai/sai) — disaster, calamity, misfortune
• 発音: /wa.za.wai/

意味

Disaster; calamity; misfortune. An unfortunate event that brings suffering or trouble.

A noun referring to misfortune, disaster, or calamity. More literary and evocative than 災害 (saigai, disaster), carrying a sense of fate or inevitability. Central to several well-known proverbs: 災い転じて福となす (wazawai tenjite fuku to nasu, turn misfortune into fortune) and 口は災いの元 (kuchi wa wazawai no moto, the mouth is the source of misfortune). Can refer to both natural and human-caused misfortune.

例文

1. 口は災いの元だから、発言には気をつけよう。
2. 思わぬ災いが降りかかることもある。
3. 災いを転じて福となす、という考え方が好きだ。

使い方ガイド

場面: proverbs, literature, daily conversation

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

Native Japanese word (wago). The kanji 災 depicts fire (火) above a river (巛), representing the destructive forces of nature. Originally referred to calamities caused by natural forces.

文化的背景

時代: Ancient

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal