放浪

fànglàng
adjective #30,260

Meanings

  1. 1 unrestrained
  2. 2 dissolute
  3. 3 dissipated
  4. 4 unconventional
  5. 5 to go off the rails

Examples

Tā niánqīng shí guòzhe fànglàng de shēnghuó.
When he was young he led a dissolute life.
Tā xìnggé fànglàng bùjī, bù yuàn bèi guījǔ shùfù.
She has an unbridled personality and refuses to be tied down by rules.

Tips

usage
放浪 has two flavors: (1) negative — 'dissolute, debauched' (放浪生活 'a dissolute life'); (2) literary/positive — 'unfettered, free-spirited' (放浪 'unrestrained in manner'). The famous four-character set phrase 放浪 (fànglàng bùjī, 'unbridled and untamed') is usually admiring rather than condemning.
memory
('to release / let loose') + ('wave'). Picture a wave that's been let loose — crashing wherever it wants, no banks holding it in.

Stroke Order

fàng
làng