蹒跚 (pán shān) — to walk unsteadily, to stagger, to hobble
Definition
Literary verb for walking unsteadily — used in writing to describe unsteady steps, often of the elderly, drunk, or very young. Sounds more formal than colloquial.
verb
to walk unsteadilyto staggerto hobble
Examples
- 蹒跚。Nà wèi lǎo rén pán shān dì zǒu zài jiē shàng.That old man walked unsteadily on the street.
- ，蹒跚。Tā hē duō le, pán shān zhe huí jiā.He drank too much and staggered home.
- ，蹒跚。Hái zi gāng xué huì zǒu lù, zǒu qǐ lái yǒu diǎn r pán shān.The child just learned to walk and his steps are a bit unsteady.
Origin
Single-morpheme word构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair
Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.
蹒pán
跚shān
The characters 蹒 and 跚 carry no meaning of their own here; together they describe walking unsteadily.
Sound-only characters
Appears in
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