春节
The English phrase "spring festival" is 春节 in Chinese.
春节 is the name for the Spring Festival. Colloquially, people use the verb phrase 过年 to refer to celebrating the holiday, which can be translated as "to pass the year" or "to celebrate the New Year".
What does it mean word for word?
The term 春节 is composed of 春 (spring) and 节 (festival/holiday).
Which one should you use?
春节 specifically refers to the lunar holiday, whereas 元旦 refers to the January 1st New Year's Day.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Cantonese, the Spring Festival is known as 春節 or 過年. In Minnan, the Spring Festival is referred to as 新年.
Did you know?
- The phrase 过年 uses the character 年, which originally referred to a mythical beast or a grain god rather than a unit of time.
- During 春节, it is common to avoid using words like 'death' or 'break' and to avoid sweeping the floor on the first day to keep the 'luck' and 'wealth' from being swept away.
- The character 节 in 春节 can also mean a 'joint' in a bamboo stalk or a '節' (section/segment).
Examples in context
- 春节，即农历新年。Spring Festival is also known as Chinese New Year.This example shows that 春节 is also known as Chinese New Year.Tatoeba #756977 by eastasiastudent, translation #756981 by eastasiastudent
- 庆祝春节俗称过年。Celebrating Spring Festival is commonly referred to as 'passing the year'.This example illustrates that celebrating 春节 is commonly referred to as 'passing the year'.Tatoeba #756982 by eastasiastudent, translation #756983 by eastasiastudent
- 那里的古话说“没有花节，没有春节。”There is an old saying there: “No flower fairs, no Spring Festival.”This sentence uses an old saying regarding the connection between flower fairs and 春节.Tatoeba #766051 by eastasiastudent, translation #766052 by eastasiastudent
- 過年好Happy Spring Festival
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about their holiday plans.
- 俊杰 Junjie你春节打算回家吗？Nǐ chūnjié dǎsuàn huíjiā ma?Do you plan to go home for the Spring Festival?
- 晓雯 Xiaowen是的，我很久没回去了。Shì de, wǒ hěn jiǔ méi huíqù le.Yes, I haven't been back for a long time.
- 俊杰 Junjie那你一定会很开心。Nà nǐ yīdìng huì hěn kāixīn.Then you will definitely be very happy.
- 晓雯 Xiaowen我也很期待春节的晚餐。Wǒ yě hěn qīdài chūnjié de wǎncān.I am also looking forward to the Spring Festival dinner.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
