King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “linger”

流连忘返
liú lián wàng fǎn
Traditional: 流連忘返
to linger; to remain enjoying oneself and forget to go home

The closest CC-CEDICT match for linger is 流连忘返 (liú lián wàng fǎn), defined as: to linger; to remain enjoying oneself and forget to go home.

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Characters and stroke order

流 liú
to flow, to drift, to circulate; class
radical 85 ⽔ · 10 strokes
连 lián
to join, to connect; continuous; even
radical 162 ⾡ · 8 strokes
忘 wàng
to forget, to miss, to neglect, to overlook
radical 61 ⼼ · 7 strokes
返 fǎn
to restore, to return, to revert to
radical 162 ⾡ · 7 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “linger”

WordPinyinMeaning
萦回 (縈迴)yíng huíto linger; to swirl around (in the air, in one's mind etc)
徜徉cháng yángto wander about unhurriedly; to linger; to loiter
滞留 (滯留)zhì liú(of a person) to remain in (a place) (due to circumstances that prevent one leaving); to be stranded; (of sth that would typically dissipate, e.g. floodwater, pollutants) to remain
驻留 (駐留)zhù liúto stay; to remain
盘桓 (盤桓)pán huánto pace; to linger

Related words

Other words that share a character with 流连忘返.

WordPinyinMeaning
交流jiāo liúto exchange; exchange
流行liú xíng(of a contagious disease etc) to spread; to propagate; (of a style of clothing, song etc) popular; fashionable
主流zhǔ liúmain stream (of a river); fig. the essential point
流动 (流動)liú dòngto flow; to circulate; to move about; mobile; (of assets) liquid
流量liú liàngflow rate; throughput of passengers; volume of traffic; (hydrology) discharge
流通liú tōngto circulate; to distribute; circulation; distribution
连续 (連續)lián xùcontinuous; in a row
连结 (連結)lián jiévariant of 联结 (lián jié); (Tw) link (on a website); hyperlink
忘记 (忘記)wàng jìto forget
返回fǎn huíto return to; to come (or go) back

See also: Japanese symbol for “linger”.

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

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