disaster

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 災 has 7 strokes and denotes calamity or disaster.
• Basic usage: 災い is read わざわい, and 天災 is read てんさい.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Calamity and natural disaster
  • 小さな油断が大きな災いを招くことがある means that a small lapse in attention can bring about a major disaster.
  • 天災による被害 means damage caused by a natural disaster. 天災 specifies a natural cause.
• Readings in each word
  • 災い is read わざわい, while 災 in 天災 is read さい.