Meaning
The kanji 濫 means overflow, excessive, indiscriminate, and reckless. It describes situations where something crosses its proper limits — water spilling beyond its banks, resources squandered carelessly, authority exercised without restraint.
Structurally, 濫 combines the water radical 氵 (sanzui, the three-stroke form of 水) on the left with 監 (kan, to oversee) on the right. Water that is being watched but still floods: that tension is the kanji in miniature. 氵 anchors it in the physical reality of water overflowing, while 監 adds the irony of something spilling past even careful supervision.
From flooding rivers, 濫 broadened to cover any kind of excess or disorder. It now anchors compounds for misuse of authority (濫用), flood events (氾濫), wasteful spending (濫費), and indiscriminate logging (濫伐). Each compound shares one core idea: something has gone beyond what is appropriate.
At 18 strokes, 濫 is a Jōyō kanji taught at the secondary school level and required for JLPT N1. Casual conversation rarely calls for it, but it turns up constantly in newspapers, legal documents, and environmental reporting.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
ラン (RAN) is the sole on'yomi for 濫 and the reading used across virtually all compound words. It is the form you will encounter in formal written Japanese — news articles, court documents, policy texts.
Key compounds using ラン:
- 濫用 (ran'yō) — misuse, abuse of authority, drugs, or privileges
- 氾濫 (hanran) — flood, overflow; also used figuratively for a flood of information
- 濫費 (ranpi) — extravagance, wasteful spending, squandering of resources
- 濫読 (randoku) — reading indiscriminately, consuming books without selection
- 濫造 (ranzō) — churning out goods carelessly, indiscriminate overproduction
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
みだり (midari) works as an adverb meaning reckless, without permission, or without proper reason. In modern Japanese it appears almost exclusively in the set phrase 濫りに (midari ni) — recklessly, indiscriminately — which is typical of legal notices and formal prohibitions rather than everyday speech.
- 濫りに (midari ni) — recklessly, without proper reason, indiscriminately
Common Words & Compounds
Most 濫 compounds appear in formal, legal, and environmental contexts. Below are the most useful, grouped by theme.
Water and Flooding
- 氾濫 (hanran) — flood, overflow; used literally for rivers and figuratively for a sudden surge of something (news, products, candidates appearing all at once)
Misuse and Abuse
- 濫用 (ran'yō) — misuse, abuse; the most common 濫 compound in modern Japanese
- 権力の濫用 (kenryoku no ran'yō) — abuse of power
- 薬物濫用 (yakubutsu ran'yō) — drug abuse, substance misuse
- 職権濫用 (shokken ran'yō) — abuse of official authority
Waste and Excess
- 濫費 (ranpi) — waste, extravagance, squandering of money or resources
- 濫造 (ranzō) — indiscriminate overproduction; cranking out goods without quality control
- 濫発 (ranpatsu) — excessive issuance, such as printing too much currency or granting too many licenses
Environmental and Resource-Related
- 濫獲 (rankaku) — overfishing, indiscriminate hunting or catching of wildlife
- 濫伐 (ranbatsu) — indiscriminate logging, clear-cutting forests well beyond what they can sustain
- 濫棄 (ranki) — indiscriminate disposal, illegal dumping of waste
Cultural and Literary
- 濫読 (randoku) — reading indiscriminately; devouring any book at hand without selection or purpose
- 濫觴 (ranshō) — the very origin of something (literary; literally: a wine cup floating on water so shallow it is barely a trickle — the source of a great river)
- 乱立 (ranritsu) — springing up everywhere at once; also written 濫立 in formal texts; used when many shops, parties, or candidates appear simultaneously
Example Sentences
川が氾濫して、町が水に浸かった。
Kawa ga hanran shite, machi ga mizu ni tsukatta.
The river flooded and the town was submerged in water.
権力の濫用は絶対に許されない。
Kenryoku no ran'yō wa zettai ni yurusarenai.
Abuse of power is absolutely unacceptable.
政府は公金の濫費を防ぐための法律を制定した。
Seifu wa kōkin no ranpi wo fusegu tame no hōritsu wo seitei shita.
The government enacted a law to prevent the wasteful spending of public funds.
薬物の濫用は深刻な社会問題だ。
Yakubutsu no ran'yō wa shinkoku na shakai mondai da.
Drug abuse is a serious social problem.
大雨の後、川が氾濫する危険性がある。
Ōame no ato, kawa ga hanran suru kikensei ga aru.
After heavy rain, there is a risk of the river overflowing its banks.
彼は子供のころから濫読の癖があった。
Kare wa kodomo no koro kara randoku no kuse ga atta.
He had a habit of reading indiscriminately since childhood.
森林の濫伐が環境破壊を招いている。
Shinrin no ranbatsu ga kankyō hakai wo maneite iru.
Indiscriminate logging is causing environmental destruction.
濫に個人情報を公開してはいけない。
Midari ni kojin jōhō wo kōkai shite wa ikenai.
You must not carelessly disclose personal information.
インターネット上には情報が氾濫している。
Intānetto-jō ni wa jōhō ga hanran shite iru.
The internet is flooded with an overwhelming amount of information.
天然資源の濫獲は生態系を崩す。
Tennen shigen no rankaku wa seitaikei wo kuzusu.
Indiscriminate harvesting of natural resources disrupts the ecosystem.
Memory Tip
Picture a supervisor (監) stationed at a riverbank, watching the water level closely — but the water (氵) rises too fast and spills over anyway. That gap between oversight and outcome is 濫: excess that outpaces control.
Anchor this with 氾濫 (hanran), which turns up in Japanese news every typhoon season. Once that image is fixed, the other compounds slot in: 濫用 is authority spilling past its proper limits, 濫費 is a budget overflowing into waste, 濫伐 is logging that takes far more than the forest can give back.