HSK 6 · Nature

泛滥 fànlàn “to flood” in Chinese

Traditional 氾濫

What 泛滥 means

  1. to flood
  2. to overflow
  3. to spread unchecked
  4. to inundate
  5. (fig.) to proliferate unchecked

How to say 泛滥

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale泛fàn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale滥làn4th tone, falling

泛滥 in a sentence

  1. 台风造成了河水泛滥。

    Táifēng zàochéng le héshuǐ fànlàn.

    The typhoon caused the river to flood.

    Sentence #905876 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 大雨使河水泛滥。

    Dàyǔ shǐ héshuǐ fànlàn.

    The heavy rain made the river flood.

    Sentence #336953 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 泛滥 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 泛 (fàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
泛fàngeneral
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 乏poor · fáSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 乏 (fá) hints at the sound. Compare it with fàn.

The character 滥 (làn) with each of its parts in a different colour
滥lànoverflowing
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 监to supervise · jiānSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 监 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with làn.

How to write 泛滥

泛 7 strokes · 滥 13 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

泛滥 (fànlàn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 泛滥 (fànlàn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 泛滥

Words with 泛

广泛guǎngfàn · extensive

More words: Nature & Environment

淡水dànshuǐ · fresh water堤坝dībà · dam陡峭dǒuqiào · steep二氧化碳èryǎnghuàtàn · carbon dioxide繁殖fánzhí · to breed飞禽走兽fēiqínzǒushòu · birds and beasts沸腾fèiténg · to boil肥沃féiwò · fertile (of soil)

FAQs

泛滥 (fànlàn) means “to flood” or “to overflow”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it fànlàn: fàn with a 4th tone, then làn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 泛滥 is written 氾濫. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type fanlan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 泛滥 from the suggestions. Typing fanlan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
泛滥 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.