བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།
bkra shis bde legs
The Tibetan way to say hello is བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། (bkra shis bde legs).
While often used as a standard greeting like 'hello', བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། is more accurately a blessing or a wish for good fortune.
Meaning: greeting (intj)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to 'auspicious good fortune' or 'may all be auspicious and well'.
How do you pronounce it?
bkra shis bde legs
Did you know?
- Tibetan culture uses different levels of honorific language, meaning there are specialized versions of greetings depending on whether you are speaking to a peer or a high lama.
- The word 'bkra shis' (auspicious) is often used in Tibetan names and titles to invoke the very good fortune found in the greeting.
- Because བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། is a blessing, it is used not only when meeting someone but also to celebrate new beginnings such as the opening of a business or a new home.
Example conversation
Two friends meet on a street in Lhasa.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoབཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། ཚེ་རིང་།Tashi Delek, Tsering.Hello, Tsering.
- ཚེ་རིང་། Tseringབཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། ཚེ་རིང་མོ།Tashi Delek, Tseringmo.Hello, Tseringmo.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoཁྱེད་རང་ག་ལེ་བྱུང་།Khyerang gale jung?How have you been?
- ཚེ་རིང་། Tseringང་གཟུགས་པོ་བདེ་པོ་འདུགNga zugpo depo dug.I am doing well.
