Gōngsī shè yàn kàoshǎng quántǐ yuángōng yìnián de xīnláo.
The company put on a banquet to reward the staff for the year's hard work.
Tips
history
The root sense is rewarding soldiers with oxen, wine and provisions — 犒师 ('to feast an army') appears repeatedly in early histories. Today it lives on in 犒劳 ('to reward for hard work') and 犒赏 ('to reward with gifts').
The ox radical 牛 (in its narrow left-side form) is meaningful here: ancient armies were rewarded with slaughtered oxen and wine, so the ox stands in for the lavish provisions of the feast.
