双喜 (shuāngxǐ): double happiness

Meanings

1 double happiness
2 the symbol 囍 used as a wedding decoration
3 Double Happiness brand (cigarettes, table tennis equipment)

Characters

双

Examples

婚礼现场到处贴着大红双喜。

Hūnlǐ xiànchǎng dàochù tiē zhe dà hóng shuāngxǐ.

Big red 'double happiness' characters were pasted up everywhere at the wedding venue.

他抽的是双喜牌香烟。

Tā chōu de shì Shuāngxǐ pái xiāngyān.

He smokes Double Happiness cigarettes.

Tips

culture

Per CC-CEDICT: 'double happiness; the combined symmetric character 囍 (similar to 喜喜) as symbol of good luck, esp. marriage'. The doubled 喜 character is pasted on doors, mirrors and walls at Chinese weddings — the most ubiquitous wedding glyph in the Sinosphere.

history

Folk legend attributes the 囍 ligature to Song-dynasty scholar 王安石: he reportedly wrote it after both passing the imperial exam and getting engaged on the same day (literally 双 'double' 喜 'joys'). Whether or not the story is true, the character has stuck for nearly a millennium.