大吉 (dà jí) — great good fortune

Definition

大吉 means "great good fortune," a fixed auspicious phrase (not a normal count-noun compound) almost always paired with 大利 as 大吉大利. You'll see it on red envelopes, couplets, and New Year greetings, not in neutral prose.

noun
great good fortune
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，。
    Xīn nián dào le, wǒ zhù dà jiā dà jí dà lì.
    New Year has arrived; I wish everyone great fortune and great profit.
  • “大吉”。
    Zhè ge hóng bāo shàng xiě zhe "dà jí" liǎng gè zì.
    This red envelope has the two characters “great fortune” written on it.
  • 大吉。
    Nǐ huà de dà jí ràng rén kàn le hěn gāo xìng.
    The “great fortune” you drew makes people very happy to see it.

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
吉jíauspicious

大 gives great and 吉 gives auspiciousness, so the term names a very lucky sign.

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.

In the earliest forms, 吉 was drawn with a mouth-like lower part and an upper part that later became today's upper shape.

Open 吉 →

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