The word 流浪汉 is formed by combining three characters that visually and conceptually build upon each other to create a specific image. The first character, 流 (liú), means "to flow" or "drift", suggesting movement without a fixed course. It is joined with 浪 (làng), meaning "wave", which intensifies the idea of being tossed about and rootless, together creating the concept of "roaming" or "wandering". This compound is then attached to 汉 (hàn), a term for a man or fellow, which personifies the abstract state of wandering into a tangible figure, a drifting man, or a tramp. Thus, the formation moves from the action of flowing, to the unrestrained motion of a wave, and finally settles on the human embodiment of that unsettled existence.