惨祸 (cǎn huò) — a tragic disaster; a horrible calamity

Definition

noun

a tragic disastera horrible calamity

Measure word · 场

惨祸。
Zhè chǎng dì zhèn zhēn shì yì chǎng cǎn huò.
This earthquake was truly a horrible disaster.
惨祸。
Shuí yě méi xiǎng dào huì zāo yù zhè yàng de cǎn huò.
No one expected to encounter such a tragic disaster.
惨祸。
Nà chǎng cǎn huò duó qù le xǔ duō rén de shēng mìng.
That horrible disaster took many people's lives.

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.

祸huòdisaster

惨 gives tragedy and 祸 gives disaster, so the word is a horrible calamity.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 慘; 惨 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

參

參cān慘cǎn

Same sound today

The traditional form 慘 puts 心 (heart) with 參 as its sound part. The simplified 惨 is a later shorthand, so its shape is not the historical form.

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 禍; 祸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

示示shìsacrifice

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi禍huò

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The simplified 祸 is an abbreviation of traditional 禍, which pairs 示 (sacrifice) with 咼 to show pronunciation.