大寿 (dà shòu) — milestone birthday (60th, 70th, 80th, etc.) celebrated with special significance in Chinese culture

Definition

A milestone birthday (typically 60, 70, 80…) celebrated with a formal banquet — not an ordinary birthday. Practically always used as 过/办大寿 (hold/celebrate the milestone birthday).

noun
milestone birthday (60th, 70th, 80th, etc.) celebrated with special significance in Chinese culture
Measure word · 个
Easily confused

Examples

  • 大寿，。
    Jīn nián yé ye guò bā shí dà shòu, quán jiā dōu huí lái le.
    This year Grandpa is celebrating his 80th birthday milestone, and the whole family has come back.
  • 大寿，。
    dà shòu De yàn xí shàng, wǎn bèi men yī cì xiàng lǎo rén jìng jiǔ.
    At the milestone birthday banquet, the younger generation toasted the elderly person in turn.
  • ，。
    Lín jū zhāng nǎi nai xià ge yuè yào bàn qī shí dà dà shòu, zhèng zài zhǔn bèi shòu táo.
    Neighbor Grandma Zhang is going to hold her 70th birthday celebration next month and is preparing longevity peaches.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

大dàgreat
寿shòubirthday

'大' means great or important and '寿' means longevity or birthday; together they denote a milestone birthday.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 壽; 寿 is its simplified writing.

  • 耂耂lǎoold
  • 𢏚𢏚𢏚

The traditional form 壽 uses 耂 for old and a sound part 𢏚, plus added decorative marks; the simplified 寿 is a later shorthand.

Open 寿 →

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