乾杯 / 干杯
gon¹ bui¹
乾杯 / 干杯 (gon¹ bui¹) is the Cantonese way to say cheers when making a toast. Wiktionary also lists 飲勝 / 饮胜 and 飲杯 / 饮杯 (jam² bui¹).
Meaning: toast when drinking (intj)
Ways to say it
| Cantonese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 乾杯 / 干杯 | gon¹ bui¹ |
| 飲勝 / 饮胜 | |
| 飲杯 / 饮杯 | jam² bui¹ |
| 勝嘅 / 胜嘅 |
乾杯 / 干杯 is used when you want everyone to finish their entire drink in one go.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase 乾杯 / 干杯 literally means 'dry cup'.
Which one should you use?
You may also encounter 飲杯 / 饮杯 or 飲勝 / 饮胜 and 勝嘅 / 胜嘅.
How do you pronounce it?
gon¹ bui¹
When do people say it?
In Cantonese drinking culture, saying 乾杯 / 干杯 often carries a social expectation that the person must actually finish the glass.
Did you know?
- While 乾杯 / 干杯 means 'dry cup', the phrase 飲勝 / 饮胜 uses the character for 'victory'. It transforms the act of drinking into a celebratory win, often used in celebratory banquets to signal success.
- In many Cantonese social settings, the person of lower status or younger age should physically hold their glass lower than the glass of the senior or host during a toast to show respect.
- The term 飲勝 / 饮胜 is uniquely Cantonese in flavor. While 乾杯 / 干杯 is understood across the Chinese-speaking world, 飲勝 / 饮胜 is a distinct regionalism that marks the speaker as being from Guangdong or Hong Kong.
Example sentences for Cantonese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “cheers” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
