庆祝

• Pinyin: qìng zhù
• Hanzi breakdown: 庆 = 广 (shelter) + 大 (big), simplified from 慶; 祝 = 礻(spirit) + 兄 (elder brother, phonetic), meaning to pray or wish

Meaning

To celebrate; to mark a joyous occasion. Performing activities to honour a happy event or achievement.

Used for all types of celebrations — holidays (庆祝国庆 = celebrate National Day), personal events (庆祝生日 = celebrate a birthday), and achievements (庆祝胜利 = celebrate a victory). Can be used as both a verb and part of a noun compound (庆祝活动 = celebration event). Common in all registers.

Examples

1. 我们一起出去吃饭庆祝你的生日吧！ Let's go out to eat together to celebrate your birthday!
2. 全城人民都在庆祝新年的到来。 People across the city are celebrating the arrival of the new year.
3. 他们开了一个派对来庆祝项目的成功。 They threw a party to celebrate the project's success.

Usage Guide

Context: festivals, achievements, personal milestones

Tone: joyful

Do Say

• 我们庆祝一下今天的好消息吧！(Let's celebrate today's good news!)
• 庆祝活动将在广场上举行。(The celebration will be held in the square.)

Don't Say

• 我们庆祝一下他失败了。(Don't use 庆祝 for negative events or others' failures — it's exclusively for positive occasions.)

Origin & History

庆 means to congratulate or celebrate (simplified from 慶, with 心 heart + 鹿 deer, deer being auspicious in ancient China); 祝 means to wish or pray (礻 spirit + 兄, prayer at an altar).

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal