流
liú HSK2

flow

流 liú
flow verb
to flow, or a stream of water or something resembling one

河水缓缓地向东流去。

hé​shuǐ huǎn​huǎn de xiàng dōng liú qù.

The river water flows slowly to the east.

degenerate verb
to degenerate or fall into a specific (usually negative) state

如果只是应付，工作就会流于形式。

rú​guǒ zhǐ​shì yìng​fu, gōng​zuò jiù huì liú yú xíng​shì.

If you just go through the motions, the work will become a mere formality.

drift verb
to move, drift, or wander from place to place

他在外面流了多年，始终没有找到一个安稳的住处。

tā zài wài​miàn liú le duō nián, shǐ​zhōng méi​yǒu zhǎo​dào yī gè ān​wěn de zhù​chù.

He wandered for many years without ever finding a stable place to live.

exile verb
to banish or send someone into exile

他在被流期间写下了许多忧国忧民的诗篇。

tā zài bèi liú qī​jiān xiě​xià le xǔ​duō yōu​guó​yōu​mín de shī​piān.

During his exile, he wrote many poems expressing concern for his country and people.

grade adjective
a class, rate, rank, or grade of people or things

他的厨艺绝对是第一流的。

tā de chú​yì jué​duì shì dì​yī liú de.

His cooking skills are definitely top-notch.

spread verb
to disseminate, circulate, or spread information or items

这个消息流得很快，不到半天全村人都知道了。

zhè​gè xiāo​xi liú de hěn kuài, bù dào bàn​tiān quán cūn rén dōu zhī​dào le.

This news spread quickly; within half a day, the whole village knew.

Frequency
Character
Written text
396th most common 555.0 per million
Movie subtitles
553rd most common 255.0 per million appears in 69% of films
Word
Movie subtitles
50.2 per million appears in 19% of films
Written text
121.9 per million

Details
HSK 2.0
Level 4
HSK 3.0
Level 2
Strokes
10
Unicode
U+6D41

Sources
Definitions
CC-CEDICT
Frequency data
MTSU Chinese text computingSUBTLEX-CHBCC Corpus (BLCU)