流浪
liúlàng · HSK 7
lead vagrant life
🎒🌊 流浪 = 流 flow + 浪 wave: drift like flowing water and waves, roaming homeless
流 means flow and 浪 means wave; together they describe a life that drifts wherever the current carries it, with no fixed home. liúlàng = to wander, roam, lead a vagrant life.
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'.
浪 — water radical 氵 + 良 (good/phonetic)
浪 is a phono-semantic compound: 氵 (water) gives the meaning and 良 supplies the sound. It originally referred to waves on water, then extended figuratively to anything surging, unrestrained, or wandering — hence modern senses like 'wave,' 'wasteful,' or 'dissolute.'