災

Glyph origin
– two main types of disaster, fire (conflagration) and flowing water (flooding).

Etymology
From ; cognate with "field cleared by slash and burn" (STEDT), which is its r-causative.

Definitions

 * 1)  calamity; disaster; catastrophe
 * 2)  personal misfortune
 * 3)  stricken; disaster-affected; disaster-afflicted

Etymology 1
From.

Noun

 * 1) an act of God, a disaster, a calamity

Usage notes

 * Seldom used on its own. Most often used in compounds.

Derived terms

 * : disaster, calamity
 * : misfortune, disaster, catastrophe
 * : conflagration, fire
 * : conflagration, fire

Etymology 2
→ →  →

From. Originally a compound of, in reference to the doings of the +. Compare the etymology of. Compare also the connotations of the English term in reference to disasters.

Often spelled with the trailing okurigana  to make the reading more explicit.

Noun

 * 1) an act of God, a disaster, a calamity