King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “overflow”

泛滥
fàn làn
Traditional: 氾濫
to overflow; to inundate; to flood; (fig.) to proliferate unchecked

The closest CC-CEDICT match for overflow is 泛滥 (fàn làn), defined as: to overflow; to inundate; to flood; (fig.) to proliferate unchecked.

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

泛 fàn
to drift, to float; broad, vast; careless, reckless
radical 85 ⽔ · 7 strokes
滥 làn
to flood, to overflow; excessive
radical 85 ⽔ · 13 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “overflow”

WordPinyinMeaning
溢出yì chūto overflow; to spill over; (computing) overflow
横流 (橫流)héng liúto overflow; transverse flow
溢yìto overflow; (literary) excessive
漾yàngto overflow; to ripple
涔cénoverflow; rainwater

Related words

Other words that share a character with 泛滥.

WordPinyinMeaning
广泛 (廣泛)guǎng fànwide; broad; extensive; widespread
泛指fàn zhǐto make a general reference; to be used in a general sense
宽泛 (寬泛)kuān fànwide-ranging
泛舟fàn zhōuto go boating
滥用 (濫用)làn yòngto misuse; to abuse
滥用职权 (濫用職權)làn yòng zhí quánabuse of power
滥杀无辜 (濫殺無辜)làn shā wú gūwillfully slaughter the innocent (idiom)
滥权 (濫權)làn quánto abuse one's authority; to misuse power

See also: Japanese symbol for “overflow”.

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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