Meaning of 灾难
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- disaster; catastrophe
How to use 灾难
灾难 is a fairly formal noun for large-scale disasters like earthquakes, floods, or wars, and it is also used loosely for any terrible situation. Example: 这场地震是一场大灾难。(Zhè chǎng dìzhèn shì yī chǎng dà zāinàn.) This earthquake was a great disaster.
灾 (zāi) shows fire 火 under a roof 宀, a house on fire, which is a clear picture of disaster. Add 难 (nàn), which here means trouble or hardship, and you get a disaster that brings great suffering.
Common mistake: Learners often read 难 here as nán, the tone used in 难过 (nánguò) and 难看 (nánkàn), but in 灾难 it is fourth tone nàn, meaning calamity. Also watch the measure word: say 一场灾难 (yī chǎng zāinàn), not 一个灾难.
灾难 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
灾 zāi · disaster · 7 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
难 nán · difficult · 10 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Related words
Words that share a character with 灾难.
| 难过 | nánguò | to feel sad; to feel unwell |
| 难受 | nánshòu | to feel unwell; to suffer pain |
| 难看 | nánkàn | ugly; unsightly |
| 难题 | nántí | difficult problem |
| 难听 | nántīng | unpleasant to hear; coarse |
| 难道 | nándào | don't tell me ...; could it be that...? |
| 困难 | kùnnan | difficult; challenging |
| 难度 | nándù | degree of difficulty |
| 难免 | nánmiǎn | hard to avoid; difficult to escape from |
| 艰难 | jiānnán | difficult; arduous; hard |
| 难以 | nányǐ | hard to (predict, imagine etc) |
| 难得 | nándé | seldom; rare |
Questions about 灾难
What does 灾难 mean?
灾难 (zāinàn) means "disaster; catastrophe" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 灾难?
灾难 is made of 2 characters: 灾 (7 strokes), 难 (10 strokes). That is 17 strokes in total.
Is 灾难 an HSK word?
Yes. 灾难 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 灾难 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 灾难 is written 災難.
What is the difference between 灾难 and 灾害?
灾害 (zāihài) usually refers to natural hazards as a category, as in 自然灾害 (zìrán zāihài) natural disasters. 灾难 stresses the suffering and catastrophe itself and can be used figuratively, for example calling a bad exam result a disaster.
Can 灾难 be used as an adjective, like 'disastrous'?
Yes, it often comes before 性 to form 灾难性 (zāinànxìng), as in 灾难性的后果 (zāinànxìng de hòuguǒ) disastrous consequences. On its own, 灾难 is normally a noun.