Almanac activity glossary: 15 useful Chinese terms

Activity terms

A Chinese almanac can give different classifications to activities that English compresses into “getting married,” “moving house” or “doing business.” Its Yi (宜, yí) column identifies suitable activities; its Ji (忌, jì) column identifies activities to avoid. The activity name tells you which part of an occasion or undertaking is being classified.

The entries below give Mandarin pinyin with tone marks and the Chinese characters needed to recognize the wording on a calendar.

Frequently confused activities

Ritual offerings (jìsì)

祭祀 — Offerings and rites for deities or ancestors. This broad category of ritual worship includes household ancestral rites and temple offerings. The offerings need not involve an animal sacrifice.

Pray for blessings (qífú)

祈福 — Seeking blessings through prayer or ritual. The emphasis is on asking for well-being or divine favor. This can occur within a ceremony that also includes jìsì, but the words identify different aspects: making offerings and seeking blessings.

Marriage (jiàqǔ)

嫁娶 — Marriage and wedding rites. The paired characters refer to marrying a daughter out and taking a wife, reflecting the vocabulary’s traditional family setting. Betrothal gifts, nàcǎi, and arranging the bed, ānchuáng, can appear as separate almanac activities within the wedding preparations.

Betrothal gifts (nàcǎi)

纳采 — A formal marriage proposal accompanied by gifts. In the traditional sequence of six marriage rites, nàcǎi is the first rite: the prospective groom’s side sends an intermediary with gifts to the prospective bride’s family. The term identifies this betrothal stage rather than the wedding as a whole.

Enter a home (rùzhái)

入宅 — Moving into and taking up residence in a new home. The focus is on entering the dwelling and beginning residence there. It overlaps with yíxǐ, relocating a household, while naming the entry more specifically.

Relocate (yíxǐ)

移徙 — Changing residence or relocating a household. The emphasis is on the move. The distinction from rùzhái concerns relocation and entry into the dwelling; the labels do not by themselves establish whether a house is newly built or previously occupied.

Place a bed (ānchuáng)

安床 — Positioning or installing a bed, including setting up a wedding bed or repositioning an existing one. The word can name both a practical act and a ceremonial occasion.

Build and repair (xiūzào)

修造 — Building, repairing or renovating. This is a broad construction category. It can describe work on a building without specifying the precise stage. Beginning earthwork, raising pillars or beams, and other construction stages may have separate activity labels.

Break ground (dòngtǔ)

动土 — Beginning excavation or earthwork for construction. The expression focuses on starting work that disturbs the ground.

A related expression, pòtǔ (破土), can mean opening the ground to prepare a grave. Everyday usage also extends pòtǔ to construction groundbreaking. In almanac entries that distinguish the two, dòngtǔ concerns construction earthwork and pòtǔ concerns grave preparation.

Open for business (kāishì)

开市 — Opening a business or beginning trading. This concerns the commencement of business, rather than every purchase or sale made afterward. In everyday commercial speech, the same word can also mean completing a shop’s first transaction of the day.

Make an agreement (lìquàn)

立券 — Drawing up a written agreement, contract or deed. Quàn is the document establishing the agreement. Almanacs may print the combined expression lìquàn jiāoyì (立券交易), bringing together documenting an agreement and carrying out a transaction.

Trade (jiāoyì)

交易 — Buying, selling or exchanging. This names the transaction itself. It is distinct from opening for business, kāishì, and drawing up the document that records an agreement, lìquàn.

Burial (ānzàng)

安葬 — Interring the deceased. The activity is the burial itself. “Funeral” has a broader scope, encompassing ceremonies before and after interment. Preparing the grave, described by pòtǔ in this setting, is a separate activity.

Travel (chūxíng)

出行 — Setting out on a journey. In an almanac, the emphasis is on departure and travel away from home.

Make clothing (cáiyī)

裁衣 — Cutting and making clothing. The activity is garment production, including cutting cloth for a garment. It does not mean buying clothes or getting dressed, and the term is not restricted to ceremonial clothing.