流氓
liúmáng · HSK 7
rogue
🦹 流 = drift/flow + 氓 = vagrant commoner; a drifting vagrant becomes the rogue/hooligan
流 means to flow or drift, and 氓 is an old word for a rootless commoner or vagrant. Put together, 流氓 is someone who drifts without honest work — a rogue, hooligan, or thug. Sound hook: liúmáng rhymes with itself, liú-máng, like a sing-song taunt.
流 — water radical 氵 + 㐬 (phonetic, child being born)
流 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The water radical 氵 gives the meaning, while 㐬 depicts an infant being born head-down with amniotic fluid, suggesting downward flow. Together they convey water flowing, and by extension 'to flow' or 'current'.