厄运
è yùn · HSK 7
bad luck
🌧️ è sounds like uh-oh, yùn like ruin — uh-oh, ruin! bad luck
厄 (è) means hardship or adversity on its own. 运 (yùn) means fate or fortune. Together they literally combine hardship + fortune = misfortune. The è sound mirrors the English groan uh-oh, reinforcing the negative meaning.
运 — walk radical 辶 + 军 jūn (army)
Originally depicted an army (军) on the move (辶), meaning to transport or move troops. The sense broadened to 'transport, move, revolve' and later acquired the abstract meaning of 'fortune' or 'luck'—what fate moves toward you. The simplified form replaces traditional 運.