天災

See also: 天灾

Chinese

		day; sky; heaven	disaster; calamity
trad. (天災)		天	災
simp. (天灾)		天	灾

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tiānzāi

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄢ ㄗㄞ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): tin¹ zoi¹
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): thian-chai

  (Teochew, Peng'im): tiang¹ zai¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tiānzāi
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄢ ㄗㄞ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tianzai
    • Wade–Giles: tʻien¹-tsai¹
    • Yale: tyān-dzāi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tiantzai
    • Palladius: тяньцзай (tjanʹczaj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: tin¹ zoi¹
    • Yale: tīn jōi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tin¹ dzoi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: tin¹ zoi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰiːn⁵⁵ t͡sɔːi̯⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thian-chai
    • Tâi-lô: thian-tsai
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tienzay
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² t͡sai⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰiɛn³³ t͡sai³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² t͡sai⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡sai⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡sai⁴⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: tiang¹ zai¹
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: thiang tsai
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰiaŋ³³⁻²³ t͡sai³³/

---

• Middle Chinese: then tsoj

Rime
Character	天	災
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	透 (6)	精 (13)
Final (韻)	先 (85)	咍 (41)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	IV	I
Fanqie	他前切	祖才切
Baxter	then	tsoj
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰen/	/t͡sʌi/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰen/	/t͡səi/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɛn/	/t͡sɒi/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰɛn/	/t͡səj/
Li Rong	/tʰen/	/t͡sᴀi/
Wang Li	/tʰien/	/t͡sɒi/
Bernard Karlgren	/tʰien/	/t͡sɑ̆i/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tiān	zāi
Expected Cantonese Reflex	tin1	zoi1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*l̥ˤi[n]|l̥ˤi[n]  [ts]ˤə/

  (Zhengzhang): /*qʰl'iːn  ʔslɯː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	天	天	災
Reading #	1/2	2/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	tiān	xiān	zāi
Middle Chinese	‹ then ›	‹ xen ›	‹ tsoj ›
Old Chinese	/*l̥ˁi[n]/	/*l̥ˁi[n]/ (W dialect: l̥ˁ- > Hàn-time *xˁ- > MC x-)	/*[ts]ˁə/
English	heaven	heaven	calamity
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	天	災
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	12387	16487
Phonetic component	天	災
Rime group	眞	之
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	天	烖
Old Chinese	/*qʰl'iːn/	/*ʔslɯː/
Notes		烖籀文

Noun

天災

1. natural disaster; act of God (Classifier: 場／场; 次; 種／种)

Synonyms

edit

• 亂兒／乱儿 (luànr) (dialectal)
• 人禍／人祸 (rénhuò) (man-made disaster)
• 劫 (jié) (Buddhism)
• 劫煞 (Hokkien)
• 劫難／劫难 (jiénàn)
• 厄 (literary, or in compounds)
• 大禍／大祸 (dàhuò) (major catastrophe)
• 大難／大难 (dànàn) (major catastrophe)
• 央厄 (yāng'è) (literary)
• 奇禍／奇祸 (qíhuò) (literary, unexpected disaster)
• 巨禍／巨祸 (jùhuò) (literary)
• 患 (huàn) (literary, or in compounds)
• 慘事／惨事 (cǎnshì)
• 慘劇／惨剧 (cǎnjù)
• 慘禍／惨祸 (cǎnhuò) (tragic accident)
• 沙𧐔 (sua¹ sab⁴) (Teochew)
• 浩劫 (hàojié)
• 災／灾 (zāi) (literary, or in compounds)
• 災劫／灾劫 (zāijié) (literary)
• 災厄／灾厄 (zāi'è) (literary)
• 災害／灾害 (zāihài)
• 災殃／灾殃 (zāiyāng)
• 災禍／灾祸 (zāihuò)
• 災變／灾变 (zāibiàn) (literary, natural disaster)
• 災難／灾难 (zāinàn)
• 癰疽／痈疽 (yōngjū) (figurative)
• 眚沴 (shěnglì) (literary)
• 禍／祸 (huò) (literary, or in compounds)
• 禍事／祸事 (huòshì)
• 禍害／祸害 (huòhài)
• 禍息／祸息 (ho⁵ si⁶) (Xiang)
• 禍患／祸患 (huòhuàn)
• 禍殃／祸殃 (huòyāng)

 

Derived terms

• 天災人禍／天灾人祸 (tiānzāirénhuò)
• 天災地孽／天灾地孽
• 天災地變／天灾地变
• 天災物怪／天灾物怪
• 害天災／害天灾

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (天災):

• → Japanese: 天災(てんさい) (tensai)
• → Korean: 천재(天災) (cheonjae)
• → Vietnamese: thiên tai (天災)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
天	災
てん Grade: 1	さい Grade: 5
on'yomi

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) てんさい [tèńsáí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞ɰ̃sa̠i]

Noun

天(てん)災(さい) • (tensai) 

1. natural disaster
   • 2015 September 14, Kaori Shoji, “When disaster strikes in Japan, keep calm and carry a diaper”, in The Japan Times‎^[1], retrieved 2023-04-11:

     The Japanese disaster comes in many forms, and saigai include tensai (天災, literally, heaven-sent disasters — i.e., natural ones) [...]

Derived terms

• 天災地変(てんさいちへん) (tensaichihen)