噩运 (è yùn) — misfortune, bad luck

Definition

噩运 means a long stretch of bad luck or misfortune — stronger and more literary than 运气差. Often used for serious events, not small hassles.

noun
misfortunebad luck
Easily confused

Examples

  • 噩运。
    Tā xī wàng zì jǐ néng bǎi tuō è yùn de jiū chán.
    He hopes to shake off the entanglement of bad luck.
  • 噩运。
    Jiē lián de è yùn ràng tā yì jué bú zhèn.
    One misfortune after another left him unable to recover.
  • 噩运。
    Zhè chǎng chē huò shì yì chǎng jù dà de è yùn.
    This car accident was a huge misfortune.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

噩èdreadful
运yùnfortune

噩 conveys a dreadful or calamitous quality, and 运 is fortune or luck, so the word means a dreadful fortune, i.e. misfortune.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 噩 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 運; 运 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
辵辵chuòmotion
Sound part声符shēngfú
軍
軍jūn運yùn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 運 combines 辵, meaning motion, with 軍 to give the sound; the simplified 运 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical components.

Open 运 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.