How to say "Disaster" in Japanese | 災難

If you are wondering what's the Japanese word for "Disaster" you've come to the right place!

the Japanese word for "Disaster" is "Sainan", written in japanese as "災難".

Here's a more detailed explanation:

The Japanese noun '災難 (さいなん)' refers to a 'disaster' or 'calamity'. It is used to describe unfortunate events or misfortunes that cause significant harm or distress. This word can be applied to both natural disasters and personal misfortunes. For example: That was a terrible disaster「それはひどい災難だった」(それはひどいさいなんだった). He encountered a great misfortune「彼は大きな災難に遭った」(かれはおおきなさいなんにあった). The term carries a sense of severity and often implies an unexpected or unavoidable event.

The Kanji are characters that represent meanings. As you can see, this word is made up of 2 Kanji:

The kanji "災" means "Calamity" and can be read as "Sai" and "Wazawa". And The kanji "難" means "Difficult" and can be read as "Nan", "Kata" and "Muzuka".

Now, let's make sure you understand this word the other way around too.

What does "Sainan" mean in japanese?

"Sainan" means "Disaster" .

To learn more about the kanji in this word, checkout this pages:

To make really sure you learn this word, We've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this word and of the characters that comprise it.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "さ" is read as "sa". The hiragana "い" is read as "i". The hiragana "わ" is read as "wa". The hiragana "ざ" is read as "za". The hiragana "な" is read as "na". The hiragana "ん" is read as "n". The hiragana "か" is read as "ka". The hiragana "た" is read as "ta". The hiragana "む" is read as "mu". And The hiragana "ず" is read as "zu".

About kanji, you need to know that most Kanji have two types of readings: Kunyomi, based on native japanese pronunciation. And onyomi, based on chinese pronunciation.