The word 漫漫 is a reduplication of the single character 漫 (màn), which carries meanings related to being unrestrained, overflowing, or extensive, as in water spreading without bounds. In Chinese morphology, this process of repeating a character (specifically, an adjective or adverb) functions as an intensifier, emphasizing the quality of being vast, long, and seemingly endless. Therefore, 漫漫 does not simply mean "long", but evokes a poetic and vivid sense of something stretching on indefinitely, often conveying a feeling of vastness in both space (e.g., 长路漫漫, "a long, long road") and time (e.g., 长夜漫漫, "a long, endless night").