good luck

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɡʊd ˈlʌk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

good luck (uncountable)

1. Desirable or beneficial fortune.
   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎^[1]:

     “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
       Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”

Synonyms

• good fortune
• horseshoe up one's ass (vulgar)

Derived terms

• streak of good luck

Translations

positive fortune

• Armenian: հաջողություն (hy) (haǰoġutʻyun)
• Aymara: sami (ay)
• Chichewa: mwayi
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 好彩 (yue) (hou² coi²)

  Mandarin: 好運／好运 (zh) (hǎoyùn), 幸運／幸运 (zh) (xìngyùn), 機緣／机缘 (zh) (jīyuán), 造化 (zh) (zàohua), 福氣／福气 (zh) (fúqì), 運氣／运气 (zh) (yùnqi), 紅運／红运 (zh) (hóngyùn), 大幸 (dàxìng)

• Czech: štěstí (cs) n
• Danish: held (da) n
• Finnish: hyvä onni
• French: veine (fr) f (familiar), bol (fr) m (informal), cul (fr) m (vulgar)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌴𐌹 f (audagei)
• Greek:

  Ancient: εὐτυχία f (eutukhía)

• Hungarian: szerencse (hu)
• Icelandic: gæfa (is)
• Ingrian: lykkähys
• Irish: sonas m
• Italian: fortuna (it) f
• Japanese: 好運 (ja) (こううん, kōun)
• Latin: felicitas
• Manx: sonnys m
• Ottoman Turkish: اوغور (uğur), بخت (baht)
• Polish: szczęście (pl) n
• Portuguese: sorte (pt) f
• Quechua: sami
• Russian: уда́ча (ru) f (udáča), везе́ние (ru) n (vezénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: sonas m
• Spanish: suerte (es) f
• Telugu: సౌభాగ్యము (te) (saubhāgyamu)
• Tocharian B: sakw
• Turkish: iyi şans
• Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎑𐎚 (ḥẓt)
• Volapük: benofät (vo)
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Interjection

good luck

1. Used to wish fortune on someone or as encouragement.

   Synonyms: best of luck; (chiefly in the entertainment industry) break a leg; come on; more power to your elbow; take heart; (opera) toi, toi, toi

Usage notes

This expression is considered to bring bad luck in the theatre, where – according to superstition – break a leg should be used in its place.

Translations

used to wish fortune on someone or as encouragement

• Afrikaans: voorspoed (af), sterkte
• American Sign Language: OpenA@SideChesthigh-PalmAcross OpenA@DistalSideChesthigh-PalmAcross
• Amharic: መልካም ዕድል! (mälkam ʿədl!)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: gozhǫǫ doleeł

• Arabic: بِالتَّوْفِيق! (bi-t-tawfīq!), حَظًّا سَعِيدًا! (ḥaẓẓan saʕīdan!), حَظّ سَعِيد! (ḥaẓẓ saʕīd!), بِالنَّجَاح (bi-n-najāḥ)

  Hijazi Arabic: بالتوفيق (bittawfīg)

  South Levantine Arabic: بالتوفيق (bittawfīʔ)

• Armenian: հաջողություն (hy) (haǰoġutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: yaxşı şanslar, uğurlar!
• Belarusian: ўда́чы! (ŭdáčy!)
• Bulgarian: на до́бър час! (na dóbǎr čas!), успех! (bg) (uspeh!)
• Catalan: sort!, bona sort!, molta sort!
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 祝你好運／祝你好运 (zuk¹ nei⁵ hou² wan⁶)

  Hakka: 祝你好運／祝你好运

  Mandarin: 祝你好運／祝你好运 (zhù nǐ hǎoyùn), 加油 (zh) (jiāyóu), 乾巴得／干巴得 (gānbādei)

  Wu: 祝儂好運／祝侬好运

• Czech: hodně štěstí!
• Danish: held og lykke
• Dutch: veel geluk!, (veel) succes! (nl)
• Esperanto: bonan ŝancon!
• Estonian: edu!
• Faroese: góða eydnu
• Finnish: onnea! (fi), tsemppiä, lykkyä tykö (fi), onnea matkaan
• French: bonne chance (fr), bon courage (fr)
• Galician: boa sorte! f
• Georgian: (formal) წარმატებებს გისურვებთ (c̣armaṭebebs gisurvebt), (informal) წარმატებებს გისურვებ (c̣armaṭebebs gisurveb)
• German: viel Glück! n, viel Erfolg! m
• Greek: καλή τύχη! f (kalí týchi!), καλή επιτυχία (kalí epitychía)
• Hebrew: בְּהַצְלָחָה (he) (behatslakhá)
• Hindi: शुभ कामना! (śubh kāmnā!)
• Hungarian: sok szerencsét! (hu), sok sikert!
• Icelandic: (singular) gangi þér vel!, (plural) gangi ykkur vel!
• Indonesian: semoga beruntung
• Irish: go n-éirí an t-ádh leat, go n-éirí leat, ádh mór ort
• Italian: buona fortuna, in bocca al lupo (it)
• Japanese: 頑張って！ (がんばって！, ganbatte!), がんばれ！ (ganbare!), 健闘を祈る (ja) (けんとうをいのる, kentō o inoru), 幸運を (こううんを, kōun o), (formal) 頑張ってください (がんばってください！, ganbatte kudasai!)
• Jingpho: lam shagu awng dang u ga!, gam kaja u ga!
• Kazakh: іске сәт (ıske sät), сәттілік тілеймін (sättılık tıleimın)
• Khmer: សំណាងល្អ (sɑmnaang lʾɑɑ)
• Korean: 행운을 빕니다 (haeng'uneul bimnida), 행운을 빌어요 (haeng'uneul bireoyo), 행운을 빈다 (haeng'uneul binda), 파이팅 (ko) (paiting), 화이팅 (ko) (hwaiting)
• Kyrgyz: ийгилик болсун (iygilik bolsun)
• Ladino: mazal bueno!
• Lao: ເຄາະດີ (khǫ dī)
• Latin: feliciter
• Latvian: veiksmi!
• Lithuanian: sėkmės!
• Livvi: lykkyy matkah
• Luxembourgish: vill Gléck
• Macedonian: со среќа! (so sreḱa!), среќно! (sreḱno!)
• Malay: semoga berjaya! (ms)
• Maltese: ix-xorti t-tajba!
• Manx: aigh vie
• Mongolian: аз сайн (az sajn)
• Nepali: शुभ कामना (śubh kāmanā)
• Norwegian: lykke til
• Ojibwe: besh naa geget
• Persian: موفق باشید (movaffaq bâšid) (polite or to a group), موفق باشی (movaffaq bâši) (familiar)
• Polish: powodzenia! (pl)
• Portuguese: boa sorte!
• Punjabi: ਭਾਗ ਚੰਗੇ ਹੋਣ (bhāg caṅge hoṇ)
• Romanian: noroc! (ro), mult noroc!, succes! (ro), bună șansă!
• Russian: уда́чи! (udáči!), жела́ю уда́чи! (želáju udáči!), успе́ха! (ru) (uspéxa!)
• Sanskrit: शुभं भवतु (śubhaṃ bhavatu)
• Scottish Gaelic: gur math a thèid leat, gur math a thèid leibh, gun tèid leat
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: срећно!, сретно! (Croatian)

  Roman: srećno!, sretno! (sh) (Croatian)

• Slovak: veľa šťastia
• Slovene: sréčno!
• Sotho: tsela tsweu (st)
• Spanish: ¡buena suerte!, ¡suerte! (es)
• Swahili: kila la kheri
• Swedish: lycka till (sv)
• Tagalog: kaya mo 'yan!, galingan mo!
• Thai: โชคดี (chôok-dii), ขอให้โชคดี (kɔ̌ɔ-hâi chôok-dii)
• Tibetan: བྱ་བ་ལམ་འགྲོ་ཡོང་བར་ཤོག (bya ba lam 'gro yong bar shog)
• Tigrinya: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: iyi şanslar
• Ukrainian: уда́чі! (udáči!), щасти́! (ščastý!), хай щасти́ть! (xaj ščastýtʹ!), неха́й щасти́ть! (nexáj ščastýtʹ!)
• Urdu: شبھ کامنا
• Uzbek: omad tilamoq
• Vietnamese: chúc may mắn!
• Welsh: pob lwc
• Yiddish: זאָל זײַן מיט מזל (zol zayn mit mazl), זאָל זײַן מיט גליק (zol zayn mit glik), מיטן רעכטן פֿוס (mitn rekhtn fus)
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can