Definition

1. Adjective / Verb:
   • Floating adrift; drifting: Describes something, typically a boat or vessel, floating on water without a fixed direction or mooring, carried by currents or waves.
   • Unsettled; rootless; precarious: Describes a state of life, existence, or situation that is unstable, without a fixed place or resolution, moving from one place or circumstance to another.

Usage Examples

• Adjective / Verb:
  • Con thuyền lênh đênh trên mặt biển. (The boat drifts on the sea surface.)
  • Cuộc đời anh ấy lênh đênh nay đây mai đó. (His life is rootless, here today and gone tomorrow.)
  • Công việc ấy vẫn còn lênh đênh, chưa có kết quả cuối cùng. (That matter is still up in the air, without a final result.)

Advanced Usage

• Used poetically or figuratively to evoke a sense of melancholy, transience, or lack of control over one's destiny.
  • Số phận lênh đênh. (A drifting fate.)

Variants and Related Words

• Chìm nổi (adj): Literally "sinking and floating," used together with "lênh đênh" to emphasize a life full of ups and downs and instability.
  • Cuộc sống lênh đênh chìm nổi. (A life of drifting and uncertainty.)

Synonyms

• Adrift: Floating without being steered or anchored.
• Drifting: Moving aimlessly.
• Unsettled: Not fixed or stable.
• Rootless: Having no settled home or base.

Related Idioms

• Lênh đênh sông nước: To drift on rivers and waters; often describes the life of boat people or those living on waterways.
  • Một kiếp người lênh đênh sông nước. (A life spent drifting on the rivers and waters.)

verb

1. to float; to drift