滥 (làn): excessive; indiscriminate

Meanings

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

Characters

滥

làn

excessive; to overflow

Examples

不要滥用权力。

Bùyào lànyòng quánlì.

Don't abuse power.

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.

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.