With Chinese New Year coming, it’s time to teach your kids some useful CNY greetings! Instead of the usual ‘Xīn Nián Kuài Lè’ or ‘Shēn Tǐ Jiàn Kāng’, we’ve prepared a cheatsheet of some CNY greetings that all the aunties, uncles and even ah gong and ah ma will be impressed by.
To impress the family even further, teach your child to use specific CNY greetings to cater to different people. For example, a relative who just got a new job should get a different CNY greeting than one who’s still in school.
To make things even easier, we’ve categorized the CNY greetings – and even included some which are specially for the Year Of The Tiger!
CNY Greetings For Prosperity
Does your family like playing gambling games during CNY such as mahjong or Ban Luck? If so then these CNY greetings for prosperity will be even more meaningful! Otherwise, prosperity greetings are suitable in any situation, for anyone too.
1. 虎年大吉 (hǔ nián dà jí)
This translates to ‘I wish you luck and prosperity in the Year of the Tiger’. A timely CNY greeting to use this year!
2. 虎虎生威，虎年更猛 (hǔ hǔ shēng wēi, hǔ nián gèng měng)
The longer the CNY greeting, the more likely it is to impress! This translates to ‘Prosper with the ferocity of a tiger, and more success this Year of the Tiger’.
3. 财源滚滚 (cái yuán gǔn gǔn)
This thoughtful greeting wishes for the person’s household to be blessed with ‘a river of gold’.
CNY Greetings For Health
CNY greetings for health are great, especially if you’d like your child to give auspicious greetings to the elderly. Wishing the patriarchs and matriarchs of the family longevity and good health is always meaningful.
4. 福寿安康 (fú shòu ān kāng)
This means to wish longevity, peace of mind and soundness of health. This is a thoughtful greeting especially for your child to say to his or her grandparents.
5. 青春常駐(qīng chūn cháng zhù)
If your family has a lot of aunties, then this will be a useful CNY greeting! This greeting wishes youth and beauty upon the other person. Your child will definitely melt some hearts with this CNY greeting.
CNY Greetings For Career & Studies
Did someone in your external family just get a new job? Or perhaps you have relatives who are studying hard for a degree? Then these CNY greetings which wish success in career and studies will be handy for your child!
6. 学业有成 (xué yè yǒu chéng)
This greeting directly translates to wishing academic success. Usually parents use this greeting when giving red packets to their own children who are in school, but it’s also meaningful for your child to use it when greeting his or her cousins who are studying.
7. 工作顺利 (gōng zuò shùn lì)
Did someone in the family just get a promotion? It would mean a lot to that person to receive this CNY greeting! It wishes for their career or business to go well.
8. 马到成功 (mǎ dào chéng gōng)
Also commonly used to wish someone who just got into a new job or started a new business. Translates to ‘instant success upon arrival’.
CNY Greetings For The Whole Family
These greetings are very flexible, as they wish good tidings upon the whole family rather than an individual. Can be used in almost any situation – but are perfect when visiting a friend or relative’s house.
9. 阖家幸福 (hé jiā xìng fú)
Wishes happiness and good tidings upon the entire household that you’re visiting.
10. 阖家欢乐 (hé jiā huān lè)
Similar to the above, but leans more towards wishing joy, fun and laughter for the household.
We hope you found this useful! If you’re still looking for restaurants to visit for your family’s reunion dinner, check out our article on 7 Best Restaurants For CNY Reunion Dinner 2022!
