放浪者(ほうろうしゃ)

ほうろうしゃ
noun
wanderer; vagabond; drifter
1. wanderer; vagabond; drifter
A person who travels from place to place without a fixed home or destination. Can carry a romantic or literary nuance of free-spirited travel, or a more negative sense of aimless roaming.
彼(かれ)は放浪者(ほうろうしゃ)のような生活(せいかつ)をしている。
He lives like a wanderer.
若(わか)い頃(ころ)は放浪者(ほうろうしゃ)として世界(せかい)を旅(たび)した。
In my youth, I traveled the world as a wanderer.
その小説(しょうせつ)は、戦後(せんご)の日本(にほん)を放浪(ほうろう)する一人(ひとり)の放浪者(ほうろうしゃ)の物語(ものがたり)だ。
The novel is the story of a wanderer roaming through postwar Japan.

A compound of 放浪(ほうろう) (wandering, roaming) and 者(しゃ) (person). The word has a literary quality and is commonly found in novels, biographies, and historical writing.

Depending on context, 放浪者(ほうろうしゃ) can evoke either a romantic image of a free spirit who chooses to wander, or a more pitiable image of someone with no home or purpose.

COMMON COLLOCATIONS:

  • 放浪者(ほうろうしゃ)のような生活(せいかつ): a wanderer's lifestyle
  • 孤独(こどく)な放浪者(ほうろうしゃ): a lonely wanderer
  • 放浪者(ほうろうしゃ)の旅(たび): a vagabond's journey

SIMILAR WORDS:

  • 放浪(ほうろう): wandering (the act itself, not the person)
  • 流浪(るろう): wandering, vagrancy — more literary; carries a stronger sense of being without roots
  • 浮浪者(ふろうしゃ): vagrant, homeless person — more negative connotation, implies poverty and homelessness
  • 旅人(たびびと): traveler — neutral, without the connotation of lacking a home
general
Added 2026.4.21 22:09
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