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禍不單行

简祸不单行 · 繁禍不單行

Mandarin · pinyin huò bù dān xíng

misfortune does not come singly (idiom)
it never rains but it pours

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Characters in this entry

禍: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
單: Look up this written character
行: xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
祸: huò · misfortune, calamity, disaster
单: dān · single, individual, only; lone

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–2 · huo4 bu4 dan1 xing2

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wo6 bat1 daan1 hang4

Cantonese word readings for 禍不單行. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

wo6 bat1 daan1 hang4

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) misfortunes never come singly; it never rains but it pours

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack