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祸水 (huò shuǐ) — (idiom, derogatory) a woman who brings disaster; femme fatale

Definition

A derogatory idiom labeling a woman blamed for bringing disaster — originally 'flood of calamity.' It is sexist and insulting; do not use lightly. In modern Chinese it appears mainly in discussions of historical stereotypes like 妲己 or 杨贵妃.

idiom
(idiom, derogatory) a woman who brings disasterfemme fatale

Examples

  • 祸水。
    Lì shǐ shū zhōng cháng bǎ wáng cháo fù miè de yuán yīn guī jiù yú huò shuǐ.
    Historical books often attribute the fall of a dynasty to a disastrous woman.
  • 祸水。
    Nà bù diàn yǐng lǐ tā bàn yǎn le yí gè huò shuǐ de jué sè.
    In that movie she played the role of a femme fatale.
  • 祸水，。
    Bú yào suí biàn bǎ nǚ xìng chēng wéi huò shuǐ, zhè hěn bù zūn zhòng.
    Don't casually call a woman a 'disastrous woman'; it's very disrespectful.

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.

祸huòdisaster
水shuǐwater

祸 means disaster, and 水 means water; together they liken someone to a flood bringing ruin.

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 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.

Open 祸 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

水 is a simple drawing of water flowing.

Open 水 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set PhrasesPeople (General)

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