天灾 (tiān zāi) — natural disaster

Definition

noun
natural disaster
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 天灾。
    Zhè cì tiān zāi zào chéng le jù dà de jīng jì sǔn shī.
    This natural disaster caused enormous economic losses.
  • 天灾，。
    Miàn duì tiān zāi, rén men yīng gāi tuán jié yí zhì.
    Faced with a natural disaster, people should unite as one.
  • 天灾。
    Zhèng fǔ jiàn lì le yù jǐng xì tǒng lái yìng duì tiān zāi.
    The government has established an early warning system to respond to natural disasters.

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.

天tiānheaven
灾zāidisaster

天 means heaven or nature, 灾 means disaster, so the word means a disaster from nature.

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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 災; 灾 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
𡿧
𡿧𡿧災zāi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 災 combines 火 (fire) with 𡿧, an old picture of flowing water that supplied the sound; the simplified 灾 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 灾 →

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