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Chinese funeral words and customs

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Death and the funeral

  1. qù去shì世

    to pass away; to die

  2. guò过shì世

    to pass away; to die

  3. shì逝shì世

    to pass away; to die

  4. zàng葬lǐ礼

    funeral

  5. sāng丧shì事

    funeral arrangements

  6. hóng红bái白xǐ喜shì事

    weddings and funerals

  7. bìn殡yí仪guǎn馆

    funeral home

  8. zhuī追dào悼huì会

    memorial service; memorial meeting

  9. mò默āi哀

    to stand in silent tribute; to observe a moment of silence

  10. āi哀dào悼

    to mourn; to grieve

  11. ān安xī息

    to rest in peace

  12. jié节āi哀

    to restrain one's grief (said to the bereaved)

Mourning

  1. shǒu守líng灵

    to keep vigil beside a coffin

  2. líng灵táng堂

    mourning hall; funeral hall

  3. yí遗xiàng像

    portrait of the deceased

  4. diào吊yàn唁

    to offer condolences

  5. bēn奔sāng丧

    to hurry home for a funeral

  6. dài戴xiào孝

    to wear mourning

  7. pī披má麻dài戴xiào孝

    to wear mourning clothes

  8. xiào孝fú服

    mourning clothes

  9. hēi黑shā纱

    black armband (for mourning)

  10. huā花quān圈

    wreath

  11. wǎn挽lián联

    elegiac couplet

Burial

  1. chū出bìn殡

    to hold a funeral procession

  2. huǒ火huà化

    to cremate; cremation

  3. gǔ骨huī灰

    ashes (of the dead); cremains

  4. gǔ骨huī灰hé盒

    cinerary urn

  5. tǔ土zàng葬

    burial in the ground; interment

  6. xià下zàng葬

    to bury (the dead); to inter

  7. guān棺cai材

    coffin

  8. shòu寿yī衣

    burial clothes; shroud

  9. mù墓dì地

    cemetery; graveyard

  10. fén坟mù墓

    grave; tomb

  11. mù墓bēi碑

    gravestone; tombstone

Remembering the dead

  1. qī七qī七

    forty-ninth day after a death (mourning rite)

  2. pái牌wèi位

    memorial tablet; ancestral tablet

  3. shàng上xiāng香

    to burn incense (as an offering)

  4. jì祭bài拜

    to offer sacrifices and worship; to pay respects (to ancestors)

  5. jì祭zǔ祖

    to offer sacrifices to one's ancestors

  6. zhǐ纸qián钱

    paper money burned as an offering to the dead

  7. shāo烧zhǐ纸

    to burn paper offerings (for the dead)

  8. míng冥bì币

    hell money (paper money burned for the dead)

  9. qīng清míng明jié节

    Qingming Festival; Tomb-Sweeping Day

  10. sǎo扫mù墓

    to sweep the graves (honoring the dead, esp. at Qingming)

  11. shàng上fén坟

    to visit a grave (to pay respects)

  12. zhōng中yuán元jié节

    Ghost Festival (15th day of the 7th lunar month)

What are Chinese funeral customs?

The family keeps vigil, 守灵 (shǒulíng), in a mourning hall, 灵堂 (língtáng), before a portrait of the dead, 遗像 (yíxiàng). Visitors come to pay their respects, 吊唁 (diàoyàn): they bow, offer incense and give money in a white envelope. Close family wear mourning, 戴孝 (dàixiào). After the procession, 出殡 (chūbìn), most people in mainland China are now cremated, 火化 (huǒhuà). Rites follow every seventh day up to the forty-ninth, 七七 (qīqī).

What do you wear to a Chinese funeral?

Plain black, white or dark grey, and nothing red or bright: red is for weddings and luck. The close family wear white mourning clothes, 孝服 (xiàofú), or a black armband, 黑纱 (hēishā).

How much money goes in a Chinese funeral envelope?

Money for a funeral goes in a white envelope, never a red one, and is often an odd amount, where wedding gifts are even. How much depends on how close you were. In Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore it is called 帛金 (bójīn).

What do you say at a Chinese funeral?

节哀 (jié’āi), please restrain your grief, said to the family, often as 节哀顺变 (jié’āi shùnbiàn). Our condolences page has more lines to say and write, each with sound.

Why do Chinese people burn paper money?

Paper money, 纸钱 (zhǐqián) or 冥币 (míngbì), is burned so the dead have money in the afterlife. Families burn it at the funeral, at 清明节 (Qīngmíng Jié), Tomb-Sweeping Day, when they sweep the graves, 扫墓 (sǎomù), and at the Ghost Festival, 中元节 (Zhōngyuán Jié).

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More for a Chinese funeral

Words, pinyin and meanings from our own dictionary; customs differ by region, family and religion.