放羊 (fàng yáng) — to herd sheep; (figurative, informal) to slack off, to let things slide, to be irresponsible

Definition

Literally ‘to herd sheep’; informally means slacking off, like letting sheep wander while you stop watching. Only used for this image — not a general ‘relax’ word.

verb
to herd sheep(figurative, informal) to slack offto let things slideto be irresponsible

Examples

  • 放羊。
    Tā měi tiān zǎo shàng liù diǎn jiù qù shān shàng fàng yáng.
    He goes up to the mountain to herd sheep at six every morning.
  • 放羊，。
    Zuì jìn tā zài gōng zuò shàng yì zhí fàng yáng, shén me yě bù guǎn.
    Lately he's been slacking off at work and not taking care of anything.
  • 。
    Tā nián qīng shí zài lǎo jiā fàng le sān nián yáng.
    When he was young, he herded sheep in his hometown for three years.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

放fàngherd/release
羊yángsheep

放 (herd) acts on 羊 (sheep), giving 'herd sheep'.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攵Written in full as攴pūhand, action
Sound part声符shēngfú
方
方fāng放fàng
Same sound today

放 uses 方 for its sound and 攵, a hand/action part, to mark an action of release.

Open 放 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 羊 comes from a drawing of a ram's head.

Open 羊 →

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