Chinese

浪漫

/lɑŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ män⁵¹/
indulgent; unrestrained; at will; wanton
  • HSK 5
  • TOCFL 5

Etymology graph

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Origin

Originally a native Chinese word meaning “unrestrained, indulgent”. Later used as a phono-semantic matching of English romantic, itself derived from French romantique. Compare also Chinese 羅馬 /罗马 (Luómǎ), French roman (“novel”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • borrowedEnglishromantic “Of a work of literature, a writer etc.: being like or having the characteristics of a romance, or p…”
    • borrowedFrenchromantique
  • characterChinese浪 “wave”
    • meaningChinese水 “water (Classifier: 瓶 m; 樽 c; 滴 m c; 池 m c; 盆 m c; 杯 m c)”
    • soundChinese良 “good; fine; well”
  • characterChinese漫 “to overflow (of water); to brim over; to flood”
    • soundChinese曼 “long; extended; drawn-out”

Related: Chinese 羅馬

Sources