悲運(ひうん)

Composed of 悲(ひ) (sad; sorrowful) + 運(うん) (fortune; fate). The combination evokes the sense of a destiny shadowed by sorrow — a stronger and more literary word than everyday terms for "bad luck."

CHARACTERISTIC PATTERN — "悲運(ひうん)の X":
The attributive form 悲運(ひうん)の + noun is extremely common and highly formulaic:

• 悲運(ひうん)の武将(ぶしょう): a tragic military commander
• 悲運(ひうん)の英雄(えいゆう): a tragic hero
• 悲運(ひうん)の王(おう): a tragic king
• 悲運(ひうん)の天才(てんさい): a tragic genius
• 悲運(ひうん)の最期(さいご): a tragic end
• 悲運(ひうん)の生涯(しょうがい): a tragic life

These appear often in biographies, historical dramas, and titles of novels and films.

Common collocations

• 悲運(ひうん)に見舞(みま)われる: to be struck by misfortune
• 悲運(ひうん)に泣(な)く: to lament a tragic fate
• 悲運(ひうん)を嘆(なげ)く: to bewail one's misfortune
• 悲運(ひうん)に襲(おそ)われる: to be attacked by / hit with misfortune
• 悲運(ひうん)を受(う)け入(い)れる: to accept one's tragic fate

Similar words

• 不運(ふうん): bad luck — more everyday; used for specific unlucky events ("I had bad luck today").
• 薄命(はくめい): a short, unfortunate life — classical and literary; often used of beautiful women who die young (e.g., 美人(びじん)薄命(はくめい)).
• 悲劇(ひげき): tragedy — the event or work itself, not the fate of a person.
• 運命(うんめい): fate; destiny — neutral in valence; can be good or bad.
• 宿命(しゅくめい): predestined fate — emphasizes inevitability, often tragic but not always.

Register

Literary and written. 悲運(ひうん) belongs to the vocabulary of essays, historical writing, and dramatic commentary. In casual speech, a speaker describing a particular unlucky event would simply say 運(うん)が悪(わる)い or 不運(ふうん)だ.