逢凶化吉

féng xiōng huà jí

to turn misfortune into good luck

Character by character

逢féng
meet

凶xiōng
misfortune

化huà
turn into

吉jí
luck

车祸那么严重，他却只受了一点儿轻伤，真是逢凶化吉。

The crash was so bad, yet he got off with only minor injuries: misfortune really did turn to luck.

Tone: positive (praise).

Said after a narrow escape, or as a wish: 愿你逢凶化吉. 化 means to transform.

Learn this in Lesson 37 · HSK 5–6: 讨个吉利 (Lucky numbers and lucky words)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.