Don’t blank when locals greet you during CNY any more!
Preparing for Chinese New Year isn’t too difficult. Getting a haircut and buying new clothes? Hardly a struggle. Cleaning your house? It needed to be done anyway. But learning the set Chinese New Year greetings that every Chinese person knows? That’s arguably the most troublesome part of the festivities. Chinese children spend their formative years having these four-worded phrases drilled into them, but even if you haven’t had such training, never fear! We’ve formulated an easy guide to the most common Chinese New Year greetings and what they mean, so you can collect those lai see without feeling like you’re culturally cheating.
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恭喜發財 (gung1 hei2 faat3 coi4)
Meaning: Wishing you wealth and prosperity
The quintessential Chinese New Year greeting you must have in your arsenal. ‘Gung hay faat choi’ your way through the festive season and you’re sure to win points with the locals. Children often also tack on the rhyming phrase ‘lai see dau loi’ (利是逗來), which means ‘now give me lai see’. So if you’re young or cheeky enough, feel free to try your luck at getting some red packet money!
新年快樂 (san1 nin4 faai3 lok6)
Meaning: Happy New Year
A common alternative to ‘gung hay faat choi’, this phrase is not necessarily specific to the Lunar New Year, so aside from using it during this season, you can also say it during the western New Year celebrations.
萬事如意 (maan6 si6 jyu4 ji3)
Meaning: May everything go your way
Literally meaning ‘may 10,000 things happen according to your desire’, it’s easy to see why this greeting is a popular one to use for everyone you meet.
心想事成 (sam1 soeng2 si6 sing4)
Meaning: May your heart’s desires come true
Maybe if enough people say it, some wish-granting magic will kick in like a verbal genie in a bottle.
身體健康 (san1 tai2 gin6 hong1)
Meaning: May you have good health
Though this greeting is popularly used on older people, it is applicable to everyone. After all, Covid has taught us all that health really is wealth.
出入平安 (ceot1 jap6 ping4 on1)
Meaning: May you be safe wherever you go
Literally meaning ‘peace when you come and go’, this is a common blessing to wish someone to always stay safe.
笑口常開 (siu3 hau2 soeng4 hoi1)
Meaning: May you always be happy
We particularly like this greeting because it wishes the receiver ‘a laughing mouth all the time’, which is such a poetically sweet sentiment.
大吉大利 (daai6 gat1 daai6 lei6)
Meaning: Wishing you lots of luck and fortune
Fun fact: mandarins, tangerines, kumquats, and other such citrus fruits are particularly popular over the Chinese New Year period because the word for tangerine (橘) sounds the same as luck (吉).
財源廣進 (coi4 jyun4 gwong2 zeon3)
Meaning: May riches pour in
Listen, we all want overflowing pockets so again, this is another Chinese New Year greeting that is sure to be well-received by all Chinese people.
生意興隆 (saang1 ji3 hing1 lung4)
Meaning: May your business flourish
This is a greeting that business owners in particular will appreciate receiving, since it expresses a wish for their business to thrive and make a good profit.
步步高升 (bou6 bou6 gou1 sing1)
Meaning: May you make steady progress
The reason why there are so many puddings eaten during Chinese New Year is because both new year puddings (nin go; 年糕) and turnip puddings (lor baak go; 蘿蔔糕) contain the word ‘go’ (糕), which is a homonym of height (go; 高) – so the puddings symbolise reaching further heights in the new year.
年年有餘 (nin4 nin4 jau5 jyu4)
Meaning: May you always have a surplus
This phrase wishes the receiver to always have more than they need each year, whether it be an abundance of money, food, or other material goods.
學業進步 (hok6 jip6 zeon3 bou6)
Meaning: May you progress in your studies
One for the students, who will definitely need all the auspicious fortune they can muster in Asia’s highly competitive academic life.
快高長大 (faai3 gou1 zoeng2 daai6)
Meaning: May you grow up fast and healthily
This greeting is most commonly used towards smaller children, wishing them wellness and health during their formative years.
壽比南山 (sau6 bei2 naam4 saan1)
Meaning: May you live a life with longevity
Used to wish older folks health and longevity during Chinese New Year as well as on their birthdays, this greeting comes from the full idiom ‘May your good fortune be as boundless as the eastern sea, and may you live as long as the southern mountains’ (fuk yuu dong hoi, sau bei nam saan; 福如東海，壽比南山).
青春常駐 (cing1 ceon1 soeng4 zyu3)
Meaning: May you always be youthful
Trust us: say this to the aunties for extra points – and potentially a better lai see.
Every year, Chinese people try to use New Year’s greetings that correlate to the zodiac animal of the year. Some animals are easier than others to create auspicious idioms for, but regardless, here are some phrases that include the word ‘dragon’ for this Chinese New Year.
龍馬精神 (lung4 maa5 zing1 san4)
Meaning: Wishing you health and vitality
It’s not entirely certain why the dragon and the horse have been chosen out of all animals to represent health and vitality, but this is a classic Chinese New Year greeting that isn’t only used during the years of the dragon or horse.
龍精虎猛 (lung4 zing1 fu2 maang5)
Meaning: May you be full of spirit and energy
This carries a very similar meaning to the previous greeting, only this time it is the pairing of a dragon and a tiger that is invoked to represent a healthy sense of energetic vitality.
魚躍龍門 (jyu4 joek3 lung4 mun4)
Meaning: Wishing you a big promotion in your work
There is a Chinese saying which states that a carp which swims upstream until it leaps over the highest waterfall at the top of the mountain, called the Dragon Gate (lung mun; 龍門), will be transformed into a dragon. This greeting therefore wishes the receiver to be like the carp, leaping into big opportunities for progression at work.
龍年行大運 (lung4 nin4 haang4 daai6 wan6)
Meaning: Great fortune in the Year of the Dragon
As you can probably tell, this phrase is a good catch-all for the festive season year after year. All you have to do is change the first character to reflect the correct zodiac animal!
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