TongTong
Sign in

浪人 (làng rén) — vagrant; drifter; unemployed person; (historical Japanese context) ronin; masterless samurai

Definition

Literally 'wandering person': a vagrant or drifter with no home or job, and historically a masterless samurai (ronin) in Edo-period Japan. The Japanese historical sense is the one most often encountered in texts at this level.

noun
vagrantdrifterunemployed person(historical Japanese context) roninmasterless samurai
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 浪人，。
    Nà ge làng rén zài jiē shàng liú làng le hǎo jǐ nián, méi yǒu jiā yě méi yǒu gōng zuò.
    That drifter wandered the streets for years, with neither a home nor a job.
  • ，，浪人。
    Zài rì běn de jiāng hù shí dài, zhǔ jūn sǐ hòu, làng rén jīng cháng sì chù piāo bó xún zhǎo xīn de xiào zhōng duì xiàng.
    During Japan's Edo period, after their lord died, ronin often wandered in search of a new lord to serve.
  • 浪人，。
    Hěn duō làng rén hòu lái jiā rù le làng rén jí tuán, chéng wéi dì fāng wǔ zhuāng lì liàng.
    Many ronin later joined ronin bands and became local armed forces.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

浪làngwandering
人rénperson

A 浪 (wandering) 人 (person) is a drifter or masterless samurai.

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
水水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
良
良liáng浪làng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

浪 pairs 水 (water) with 良, which supplies the sound. The water part points to its meaning of waves.

Open 浪 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →
Appears in
People (General)

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.