陶然

táorán

adjective

Meanings

1 happy and carefree
2 blissfully content
3 pleasantly tipsy

Characters

pottery; to delight

-like; so (adverb suffix)

Examples

几杯酒下肚，他陶然自得。

Jǐ bēi jiǔ xià dù, tā táorán zìdé.

After a few cups of wine, he was happily content with himself.

山间的小屋让人陶然忘忧。

Shānjiān de xiǎowū ràng rén táorán wàng yōu.

The little cabin in the mountains made one blissfully forget all worries.

北京有个著名的公园叫陶然亭。

Běijīng yǒu ge zhùmíng de gōngyuán jiào Táorántíng.

There's a famous park in Beijing called Taoranting ("Pavilion of Carefree Joy").

Tips

history

Táorántíng (陶然亭) in Beijing, now a large public park, takes its name from a line by Tang poet Bai Juyi: "更待菊黄家酿熟，共君一醉一陶然" — "wait till the chrysanthemums yellow and the home-brew is ripe, and together we'll get drunk, together be carefree." The Qing-era pavilion was built in 1695 using that line as inspiration.

register

Literary. In everyday speech you're much more likely to hear 开心, 舒服, or 自在; 陶然 shows up in essays, poetry, and place names, or to deliberately sound cultured.

Stroke Order

陶 táo

然 rán