劫后余生

劫後餘生

jiéhòu-yúshēng

idiom

Meanings

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

Characters

calamity; kalpa

Examples

HSK 5

劫后余生，他更懂得珍惜身边的人。

Jiéhòu-yúshēng, tā gèng dǒngdé zhēnxī shēnbiān de rén.

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

HSK 5

地震之后，劫后余生的居民抱头痛哭。

Dìzhèn zhīhòu, jiéhòu-yúshēng de jūmín bàotóu-tòngkū.

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

HSK 7-9

这次车祸让我感到劫后余生的庆幸。

Zhè cì chēhuò ràng wǒ gǎndào jiéhòu-yúshēng 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