祸不单行

禍不單行

huòbùdānxíng

idiom #32,204

Meanings

1 misfortunes never come singly
2 when it rains, it pours

Characters

disaster, misfortune

to travel, come

Examples

他刚丢了工作，又生了病，真是祸不单行。

Tā gāng diū le gōngzuò, yòu shēng le bìng, zhēnshi huòbùdānxíng.

He just lost his job and now he's sick — truly, misfortunes never come singly.

祸不单行，公司又被起诉了。

Huòbùdānxíng, gōngsī yòu bèi qǐsù le.

When it rains it pours — now the company is being sued as well.

Tips

history

From Liu Xiang's《说苑·权谋》(Western Han): 福不重来，祸必重来 — 'good fortune doesn't repeat, but misfortune surely does.' The compressed four-character form became proverbial.

usage

Often paired with 福无双至 (good fortune doesn't come in pairs) in the doublet 福无双至，祸不单行.

Stroke Order

祸 huò

不 bù

单 dān

行 xíng