loitering at night; late-night prowling
Refers to wandering or hanging around without a clear purpose during late-night hours, often with a negative or suspicious connotation. Commonly used in legal contexts (e.g., juvenile curfew violations) or in describing suspicious behavior.
Loitering at night is prohibited by the youth protection ordinance.
The police officer spoke to the young people loitering late at night.
徘徊 means wandering or roaming in general, not necessarily at night. 深夜徘徊 specifically adds the time element and often carries a legal or suspicious nuance.
Standard kanji spelling.
Mixed kanji-kana spelling; may be used for readability or when the kanji 徘徊 is considered difficult.
Compound of 深夜 (shin'ya, 'late night') and 徘徊 (haikai, 'wandering, loitering'). The term is often used in legal and social contexts to describe unsupervised nighttime activity, especially by minors.