受灾
shoù zāi · HSK 5
to be hit by a natural calamity
🌊 受 = receive + 灾 = disaster; literally 'to receive disaster'
受 (shòu) means to receive or suffer; 灾 (zāi) means calamity or disaster. Together they describe being struck by a natural calamity like a flood, earthquake, or storm — the victim 'receives' the disaster.
受 — hand 爫 (top) + 冖 + hand 又 (bottom)
Originally a pictograph showing two hands passing an object (the middle 冖 represented a boat or tray) between them. It depicted the act of giving and receiving, so the character meant both 'to give' and 'to receive.' Later 授 was created with the hand radical 扌 to mean 'give,' leaving 受 to mean 'receive' or 'accept.'
灾 — roof 宀 + fire 火
灾 is an associative compound showing fire (火) under a roof (宀), depicting a house on fire — the original meaning of 'disaster' or 'calamity'. An older variant 災 added 巛 (flooding water) above 火, combining flood and fire as twin disasters. The modern simplified form keeps just the house-fire image.