化险为夷 (huà xiǎn wéi yí)

Character breakdown

• 化 (huā) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of a right-side up person (亻) and an upside-down person (𠤎), depicting the meaning "turn around" or "transform".

• 险 (xiǎn) · 9 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 險.

• 为 (wéi) · 4 strokes

  Simplified form of 為. Pictograph of a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".

• 夷 (yí) · 6 strokes

  Originally depicted a rope wrapped around an arrow. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Usage

在大家的帮助下，他终于化险为夷。

to turn peril into safety (idiom); to avert disaster

zài dà jiā de bāng zhù xià ， tā zhōng yú huà xiǎn wéi yí 。