漂泊 piāobó to float
(of a boat) to float; to drift; to lie at anchor; (figuratively) to roam; to lead a wandering existence
How to remember 漂泊: 漂 pretty + 泊 to anchor = to float.
Characters
How it is used
- Literary/emotional word for leading a rootless, wandering life - 他年轻时四处漂泊 (tā niánqīng shí sìchù piāobó) in his youth he drifted from place to place.
- Almost always figurative and tinged with loneliness or hardship; think of a person with no fixed home or stable career, not a happy trip.
- Contrast 漂流 (piāoliú), which is literal floating/rafting on water; 漂泊 is about a life adrift.
- Note the reading: 漂 is piāo here (not piào 'good-looking' as in 漂亮).