滥 (làn) · excessive; indiscriminate

Meanings

1 excessive; indiscriminate
2 rampant; reckless
3 flooding; overflowing

Characters

滥

làn

excessive; to overflow

Examples

HSK 6

不要滥用权力。

Búyào lànyòng quánlì.

Don't abuse power.

HSK 7-9

市场上滥竽充数的产品太多了。

Shìchǎng shàng lànyú-chōngshù de chǎnpǐn tài duō le.

There are too many inferior products passing themselves off on the market.

HSK 7-9

滥砍滥伐导致了严重的环境问题。

Làn kǎn làn fá dǎozhì le yánzhòng de huánjìng wèntí.

Reckless logging and deforestation caused serious environmental problems.

Tips

usage

滥 appears in many set compounds: 滥用 (abuse/misuse), 泛滥 (to flood/run rampant), 滥竽充数 (to pass off as competent). It always carries a negative sense of 'too much' or 'without restraint.'

memory

氵 (water) + 监 (oversee): when the water overseers fail, water overflows - 滥 means flooding and excess.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Three-stroke water radical on the left, side form of 水. 滥 originally meant a flood - water spilling past its banks. From there the metaphorical senses of excessive, indiscriminate: 滥用 to misuse, 泛滥 to overflow. The radical anchors the overflow image transparently.

phonetic

监 jiān

to oversee; watch

Right side 监 supplies the sound - jiān drifting to làn through an old reading. 监 pictures a person bending over a basin to see their reflection. A faint ironic echo: the overseer should restrain excess, but 滥 names what happens when nobody is watching. Same phonetic in 槛 threshold.