‘泛泛’ is an adverb meaning 'in a general, superficial, or cursory way'—without depth, detail, or specificity. The character 泛 (fàn) literally means 'to spread', 'to overflow', or 'to be widespread', and when doubled, it intensifies the sense of something being broad but shallow, like water spreading thinly over a surface. It often describes speech, knowledge, understanding, or actions that lack precision or thoroughness.

This word is commonly used in both spoken and written Chinese, especially when evaluating the quality of explanations, discussions, or learning. It carries a mildly negative or critical connotation: saying someone speaks 泛泛 suggests their remarks are vague or uninformative. It frequently appears with verbs like 谈 (tán, 'to talk'), 了解 (liǎojiě, 'to understand'), or 知道 (zhīdào, 'to know'), forming phrases like 泛泛而谈 ('to speak in generalities') or 泛泛了解 ('to have only a superficial understanding').