Taxonomy of meanings for 災:　　

  • 災 zāi (OC: tsɯɯ MC: tsəi) 祖才切 平 廣韻：【同烖 】
  • 災 zāi (OC: tsɯɯ MC: tsəi) 祖才切 平 廣韻：【天火曰烖祖才切十二 】
  • 災 zāi (OC: tsɯɯ MC: tsəi) 祖才切 平 廣韻：【烖籀文 】
    • DISASTER
      • nabeventOBI 5: calamity; disaster (from Heaven/Nature; occasionally self-inflicted as in CC 9.1); the reference is sometimes to a fire
      • vi0there was a disaster (at a place); there was a disaster in the form of a fire
      • nadNconstituting a plague for
      • vtoNbe a plague for
      • nabfigurativea menace (to others)
      • v[adN]N=humperson suffering calamity
      • nabautonym"calamity"
      • vtoNmiddle voicebe struck by disaster
      • vispell disaster (XUN)LZ
    • DANGER
      • MISTAKE
        • nabmishapCH
      • BURN
      • 災 zāi (OC: ʔslɯɯ MC: tsəi) 祖才切 平 廣韻：【烖古文 】

        Additional information about 災

        說文解字:

          Criteria
        • DISASTER

          1. The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.)

          2. Zāi 災 refers to a natural disaster, typically sent down by Heaven.

          3. Huàn 患 refers to any major or minor disaster, even down to minor irritations.

          4. Yāng 殃 always refers to major natural disasters, often construed as causes by human misdemeanour, or by a failure to take preventive action.

          5. Niè 孽 often has heavy metaphysical connotations and refers to disasters as caused by higher powers acting with an intention to harm, but there are some clear cases where the word refers to man-made trouble in MENG.

          6. Nàn 難 refer to man-made disasters of every kind.

          7. Jí 急 is a disastrous or highly precarious situation that has occurred suddenly and requires urgent attention.

          8. Bù yú 不虞 is normally a minor disaster that was utterly unexpected.

          9. Xiōng 凶, shěng 眚 and jiù 咎 are archaic metaphysical terms for misfortunes.

          10. Hài 害 refers generally to harm, but in OBI the word standardly refers to harm done by supernatural powers or ancestors.

          Word relations
        • Ant: (DISASTER)善/GOOD The general term for positive appraisal of any kind in Chinese is shàn 善 (ant. è 惡 "bad").
        • Epithet: (DISASTER)凶/INAUSPICIOUS The current general word for what is of no good omen is xiōng 凶 (ant. jí 吉).
        • Assoc: (DISASTER)害/DAMAGE By far the commonest general word for damage is hài 害 (ant. lì 利"benefit").