冗长
rǒng cháng · HSK 7
long and tedious
📜 冗 = redundant/superfluous + 长 = long → drawn-out and padded with filler
冗 carries the sense of excess or superfluous; 长 means long. Together they describe writing or speech that runs on far past the point — long and tedious. A 冗长 report is one padded with redundant length.
长 — pictograph of long-haired person with cane
Originally a pictograph showing a person with long, flowing hair leaning on a cane, representing an elder. The meaning extended from 'long hair' to 'long' in general, and also to 'elder' or 'to grow' (read zhǎng). The modern form 长 is a simplification of the traditional 長.