(zāi): disaster, calamity

(zāi) is a Chinese character meaning “disaster.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1341 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a house 宀 on fire 火. Its radical form (fire) appears in many related characters such as (huǒ, fire), (dēng, lamp, light), (yān, smoke).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. disaster
  2. calamity

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA house 宀 on fire 火

Decomposition: ⿱宀火 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounzāi nàndisaster6
nounhuǒ zāiserious fire (in a city or a forest etc)6
nounzāi hàicalamity6
nounzāi qūdisaster area6
verbshòu zāidisaster-stricken6
nounhàn zāidrought6
verbjiù zāito relieve disaster6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xìng zāi lè huòlit. to take joy in calamity and delight in disaster (idiom)
zì rán zāi hàinatural disaster
zāi huòdisaster
miè dǐng zhī zāi(idiom) catastrophic disaster
shuǐ zāiflood
tiān zāinatural disaster
zāi xīngcomet or supernova viewed as evil portent
fáng zāidisaster prevention
duō zāi duō nànto be plagued with misfortunes
chéng zāidisastrous
chóng zāiinsect damage
zāi mínvictim (of a disaster)
fàn làn chéng zāilit. to flood (idiom)
tiān zāi rén huònatural calamities and man-made disasters (idiom)
hóng zāiflood
65
Total compounds
29
As first character
48
As last character
23
As middle character

appears in 65 compound words: 29 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 23 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

lào
0.6142,298 co-occurrences
nán
0.60824,029 co-occurrences
hài
0.57228,390 co-occurrences
huǒ
0.55634,283 co-occurrences
huò
0.5493,099 co-occurrences
hàn
0.5444,116 co-occurrences
hóng
0.54414,502 co-occurrences
jiù
0.51416,139 co-occurrences
zhèn
0.4877,769 co-occurrences
jiǎn
0.4684,692 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

duōzāiduōnànHSK 6+

with many disasters

phrase
fànlànchéngzāiHSK 7+

to flood and cause disaster; to run rampant; to run wild; to run amok

phrase
láoyùzhīzāiHSK 7+

imprisonment; prison; jail

phrase
mièdǐngzhīzāiHSK 6+

devastating catastrophe

phrase
kǒuzhào shíqīHSK 6+

a financial loss may prevent disaster

phrase
táo zāi bì nànHSK 6+

to seek refuge from calamities

phrase
tiānzāirénhuòHSK 6+

natural disasters and man-made calamities; catastrophes

phrase
xìngzāilèhuòHSK 6+

to take joy in calamity and rejoice the disaster; schadenfreude

phrase
xuèguāngzhīzāiHSK 6+

bloody disaster; tragedy involving bloodshed or death

phrase
zhāo zāi rě huòHSK 7+

to invite disaster

phrase
zìrán zāihàiHSK 6+

natural disaster

noun
huí lù zhī zāiHSK 6+

to have one's house burned down; fire disaster

phrase

Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

蜡烛的苗在微风中轻轻摇曳。

là zhú de zāi miáo zài wēi fēng zhōng qīng qīng yáo 曳 .

The flickering flame of the candle swayed gently in the breeze.

TvbsFeb 2026

...”3大凶相夹击!命理师示警:恐有震荡流血

. . . 3 dà xiōng xiāng jiā jī ! mìng lǐ shī shì jǐng : kǒng yǒu zhèn dàng liú xiě zāi nán

"The three villains attack each other! Numerologists warn: There may be shocks and bloodshed disasters

LtnFeb 2026

嘉义水上灯区“奔腾”主灯点亮 象征后重生希望

jiā yì shuǐ shàng dēng qū bēn téng zhǔ dēng diǎn liàng xiàng zhēng zāi hòu chóng shēng xī wàng

The main light of the "Pentium" in the Chiayi Water Lantern District is lit up to symbolize the hope of rebirth after the disaster

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

纽时示警 矽谷忽视的晶片难逼近

niǔ shí shì jǐng 矽 gǔ hū shì de jīng piàn zāi nán bī jìn

The New York Times warns that Silicon Valley's neglected chip disaster is approaching

EttodayFeb 2026

秘鲁军用直升机救任务坠毁 15人全数罹难

mì lǔ jūn yòng zhí shēng jī jiù zāi rèn wù zhuì huǐ 1 5 rén quán shǔ 罹 nán

Peruvian military helicopter crashed on a disaster relief mission, killing all 15 people

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...米露糖水!仅5粒芋头+极少西米 网民嘲赈

. . . mǐ lù táng shuǐ ! jǐn 5 lì 芋 tóu jí shǎo xī mǐ wǎng mín cháo 赈 zāi zhōu

... Milu sugar water! Only 5 grains of taro + very little sago Netizens ridiculed the disaster relief porridge

Tatoeba

堤坝保护了城市免受洪

Dībà bǎohù le chéngshì miǎnshòu hóngzāi.

The bank secured the city from a flood.

Tatoeba

你听说了昨天的火吗?

Nǐ tīngshuō le zuótiān de huǒzāi ma?

Did you hear about the fire yesterday?

Tatoeba

万一发生火,打碎玻璃并按下红色按钮。

Wànyī fāshēng huǒzāi, dǎsuì bōli bìng ànxià hóngsè ànniǔ.

In case of fire, break the glass and push the red button.

Tatoeba

我们必须始终为害做好准备。

Wǒmen bìxū shǐzhōng wèi zāihài zuò hǎo zhǔnbèi.

We must always be prepared for disasters.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zāi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 灾 (zāi) mean in Chinese?
灾 (zāi) primarily means "disaster." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1341 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 灾 have?
灾 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 灾?
The radical associated with 灾 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 灾?
灾 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 火 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀火 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 灾?
Common words with 灾 include: 灾难 (zāi nàn, "disaster"); 火灾 (huǒ zāi, "serious fire (in a city or a forest etc)"); 幸灾乐祸 (xìng zāi lè huò, "lit. to take joy in calamity and delight in disaster (idiom)"); 自然灾害 (zì rán zāi hài, "natural disaster"); 灾害 (zāi hài, "calamity"). There are over 65 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 灾 (zāi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zāi: 栽 (to plant), 宰 (to slaughter), 再 (again), 在 (to exist), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 灾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 灾 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.