劫后余生

劫後餘生

jiéhòuyúshēng

idiom

Meanings

1 life surviving after a catastrophe
2 to be a survivor of a disaster

Characters

calamity; kalpa

Examples

劫后余生，他更懂得珍惜身边的人。

Jiéhòuyúshēng, tā gèng dǒngdé zhēnxī shēnbiān de rén.

Having survived the catastrophe, he came to treasure those around him more deeply.

地震之后，劫后余生的居民抱头痛哭。

Dìzhèn zhīhòu, jiéhòuyúshēng de jūmín bàotóutòngkū.

After the earthquake, the survivors held each other and wept.

这次车祸让我感到劫后余生的庆幸。

Zhè cì chēhuò ràng wǒ gǎndào jiéhòuyúshēng de qìngxìng.

This car crash left me with the grateful feeling of a survivor.

Tips

history

From Qiu Fengjia's late-Qing poem 《岭云海日楼诗钞·寄怀许仙屏中丞四首》: '归飞越鸟恋南枝，劫后余生叹数奇.' 劫 here is the Buddhist kalpa — a cosmic cataclysm — loaned into everyday Chinese to mean a disaster of any scale.

usage

Used for real physical catastrophes (earthquakes, war, fires, serious illness, crashes), not minor setbacks. Carries a weight that 幸存 lacks.

Stroke Order

劫 jié

后 hòu

余 yú

生 shēng