災い

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 災い, read わざわい, denotes calamity or misfortune that brings harm.
• Basic usage: 小さな油断が大きな災いを招くことがある。 says that a small lapse in attention can bring about a major calamity.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Scope compared with 災害
  • 災害 is often used for damage from events such as earthquakes or floods. 災い also covers broader misfortunes, such as harm caused by carelessness in the example.
• Bringing on and avoiding
  • 災いを招く focuses on bringing calamity about, while 災いを避ける focuses on avoiding it. The actions point in opposite directions.