禍根

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 禍根, read かこん, combines calamity or harm with a root or underlying source.
• Basic usage: It denotes a root cause that may produce future trouble or sustain a long-running conflict.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Future source of trouble
  • 将来の禍根になりかねない warns that a minor conflict may become a future cause; it does not say that disaster has already occurred.
• The phrase 禍根を断つ
  • To 断つ the 禍根 is figuratively to cut off the source so that the conflict does not continue.