祸不单行

禍不單行

huòbù-dānxíng

idiom #32,204

Meanings

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

Characters

disaster, misfortune

to travel, come

Examples

HSK 5

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 huòbù-dānxíng.

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

HSK 6

祸不单行，公司又被起诉了。

Huòbù-dānxíng, 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