The word "流浪者" is formed by combining 流 (liú), meaning "to flow" or "drift", with 浪 (làng), meaning "wave" or "to wander", creating the compound 流浪 which denotes the act of roaming aimlessly. The character 者 (zhě) is then attached as a suffix to specify a person associated with that action, resulting in a term that literally means "one who drifts" and refers to a wanderer or homeless person.