災 means “disaster”

さい · sai

Also: calamity, woe, curse

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

わざわい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

サイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in grade 5 · 7 strokes

The story

A river (巛) in flood above, fire (火) below: two great disasters in one kanji. 災害 is disaster, 火災 a fire, and 防災 is disaster preparedness, the reason many Japanese homes keep an emergency bag packed by the door.

Used in 災害 (saigai, disaster), 火災 (kasai, fire), and 防災 (bousai, disaster prevention)

More from Fire & Flood

• 炎 flame
• 噴 erupt
• 炉 hearth
• 惨 miserable
• 墜 crash
• 遭 meet with (trouble)
• 洪 flood
• 薪 firewood
• 氾 overflow
• 濫 overflow

Learn 災 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.