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Chinese New Year

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 17 February 2026
A Chinese New Year firework display over Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.
A lion dance at a Chinese New Year festival in Chinatown in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Etymology

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From Chinese (adjective) +‎ New Year (noun), the latter component matching the traditional name of the holiday, Mandarin 新年 (xīnnián, “New Year”): new (xīn) + year (nián).

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Chinese New Year (plural Chinese New Years)

  2. An annual Chinese festival marking the beginning of the new year according to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, starting on the first day of the first lunar month and traditionally ending on the fifteenth day when there is a full moon. It is often celebrated by visiting family and friends, and giving gifts of money in red envelopes (ang pows or hongbao).
    Synonyms: Chunjie, Yuan Tan
    Near-synonyms: Lunar New Year, Spring Festival (synonymous in context)
    • 1704, John Francis Gemelli Careri [i.e., Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri], “[A Voyage Round the World […] Containing the Most Remarkable Things He Saw in China.] The Chinese New Year, and Solemn Festivals of the Lanthorns”, in Awnsham Churchill; John Churchill, compilers, translated by [anonymous], A Collection of Voyages and Travels, […], volume IV, London: […] Messrs. Churchill, for John Walthoe, […], published 1732, →OCLC, part IV, page 385, column 2:
      The Chin-yve [Chunjie], or Chineſe nevv year, begins vvith the nevv moon that falls next to the 5th of February, or the 15th degree of Aquarius, vvhich divides into tvvo equal parts the ſpace betvveen tvvo points in the equinox, and ſolſtice; and on that day according to them, the ſun enters a ſign they call Lie-chun, or the reſurrection of the ſpring.
    • 1883 November–December, [Arthur] Moule, “A Calendar of Flowers”, in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, volume XIV, number 6, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, →OCLC, page 470:
      Very soon after the Chinese New years day, in February, the fragrant orchid, the Lan-hua, is brought in from the hills for sale in great quantities, and may be seen and its fragrance noticed in many a Chinese home.
    • 2000 spring, Benjamin F. Schemmer, “Editorial: Pandering”, in Benjamin F. Schemmer, editor, Strategic Review, volume XXVIII, number 2, Boston, Mass.: United States Strategic Institute in association with the Center for International Relations, Boston University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3, column 1:
      Late in January a fusillade of Pentagon communiques announced that the Chinese New Year would be upon us come early February. In over 60 Chinese New Years, this was the first time the Pentagon has ever alerted us that another one was just around the corner, as if it were a cataclysmic event warranting some form of immediate action. Why the unusual preoccupation with the "Year of the Dragon"?
    • 2018, Stephen Ling, This is China, North Charleston, S.C.: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, →ISBN, page 529:
      I was too old to receive a hongbao (the Chinese New Year hongbao is strictly for children and teenagers and some young single adults) but before I left the LiuJiang village, Jake gave me a four-volume set of A Dream Of Red Mansions … one of China's Four Great Classical Novels, considered a masterpiece of Chinese literature, […]
    • 2019 February 5, Adrian Lim, “Multiracial CNY celebrations true to Singapore spirit: President Halimah”, in The Straits Times‎[1], Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 February 2019:
      In a Chinese New Year video message posted on her Facebook page yesterday, President Halimah Yacob said the fact that the celebrations here also commonly embrace those of other races is "true to the Singapore spirit".

Translations

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Further reading

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