Auspicious Chinese Wedding Greetings
Mandarin Phrases Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial: Chinese Wedding greetings
In this lesson, we are going to learn three very useful auspicious Chinese wedding wishes, which can be addressed directly to the bride, the groom, or both of them together.
Gongxi 恭喜
Before we talk about the phrases, let's look at a general greeting.
To the newly weds and their families, the best phrase to use is 'gong xi'. This is a very basic auspicious phrase for saying congratulations, and can be used on almost all occasions. Go to the video tutorial on the phrase to find out more about it.
Now, the new phrases in this lesson:
Chinese Wedding Wishes
bainian haohe 百年好合
The first auspicious wedding phrase is bǎi nián hǎo hé.
The best way to explain this phrase is to go through the meaning of the characters in turn.
- bǎi 百 means hundred
- nián 年 means years
- hǎo 好 means good
- hé 合 means match, or companion
So the meaning of the Chinese wedding wishes is obvious. It means ‘Wishing you a good match of a hundred years!’
Wow, what a wonderful greeting!
baitou xielao 白头偕老
Another greeting phrase often used on wedding occasions is bái tóu xié lǎo. Again, let me explain each of the characters in turn.
- bái 白 means white
- tóu 头 means head
- xié 偕 means together
- lǎo 老 means old
So the phrase contains two important message. The first is longevity, and the second is companionship. As a whole, it means 'wishing you getting old together'. In a nutshell, it wishes the couple a long and lasting relationship.
zao sheng guizi 早生贵子
For the more traditional families, you may also want to use this phrase: zǎo shēng guì zǐ.
- zǎo 早 means early
- shēng 生 means giving birth
- guì 贵 means valuable
- zǐ 子 means baby or child
So the whole phrase means 'wishing you having a lovely baby soon!"
Go to other mandarin tutorials.
Go to home page.