Definition

1. Verb (literary, from older usage):
   • To drift about / to wander aimlessly: To move from place to place without a fixed destination or purpose, often implying a sense of solitude and romantic detachment from worldly concerns.
   • To roam / to rove: To travel constantly over a wide area, often with a connotation of freedom and adventure, but also rootlessness.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Chàng trai ấy thích phiêu lãng khắp bốn phương trời. (That young man likes to drift about to the four corners of the earth.)
  • Tâm hồn phiêu lãng của nhà thơ được thể hiện qua các vần thơ. (The poet's wandering soul is expressed through his verses.)
  • Sau chiến tranh, nhiều người phải phiêu lãng tha hương. (After the war, many people had to wander in exile.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "phiêu lãng" carries a strong literary and somewhat melancholic tone. It describes not just physical wandering but often an emotional or spiritual state of being unmoored and free, yet adrift.
• It is commonly used to describe the life of artists, poets, or adventurers who reject a settled life.

Variants and Related Words

• Phiêu bạt (v): To drift; to lead a vagrant, unsettled life, often due to hardship or misfortune. It has a stronger connotation of difficulty than .
  • Gia đình phiêu bạt kiếm sống. (The family drifted from place to place to make a living.)
• Lang thang (v): To wander, to roam. This is a more common, contemporary, and neutral term for wandering without a specific goal.

Synonyms

• Wander: To walk or move in a leisurely or aimless way.
• Roam: To move about or travel aimlessly or unsystematically, especially over a wide area.
• Drift: To be carried slowly by a current of air or water; used metaphorically for a person moving without control.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Cuộc đời phiêu lãng: A wandering life; a life of drifting.
  • Ông ấy kể lại câu chuyện về cuộc đời phiêu lãng của mình. (He told the story of his wandering life.)
• Tâm hồn phiêu lãng: A wandering soul; a spirit that is restless and unattached.
  • Anh ấy có một tâm hồn phiêu lãng, không chịu ở yên một chỗ. (He has a wandering soul, refusing to stay in one place.)

1. (từ cũ) Drift about