泛滥
fànlàn
to flood, to overflow, to be rampant
Part of speech · verb
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 洪水泛滥,淹没了村庄。The flood overflowed and submerged the village.
- 网上假消息泛滥。False information is rampant online.
Collocations
洪水泛滥泛滥成灾泛滥成风盗版泛滥
Mnemonic
泛 fàn "to flood, float" + 滥 làn "to overflow": water flooding and spreading, i.e. to overflow, to be rampant. Same as the Korean word beom-ram (氾濫). Two shades: water overflowing (洪水泛滥 a flood) and something bad spreading unchecked (假消息泛滥 rampant fake news). The figurative, negative second sense is key. 滥 means "excessive, indiscriminate" (滥用 to abuse).
Related
弥漫猖獗充斥蔓延
Quick check
What does 泛滥 mean in 假消息泛滥?