520

wǔèrlíng

noun

Meanings

1 May 20th, unofficial 'online Valentine's Day' in China
2 'I love you' (phonetic pun)

Characters

five (≈ 我 wǒ)

two (≈ 爱 ài)

zero (≈ 你 nǐ)

Examples

520那天男朋友送了我一束花。

Wǔ èr líng nà tiān nánpéngyou sòng le wǒ yí shù huā.

On May 20th my boyfriend gave me a bouquet of flowers.

他给女朋友发了520块红包。

Tā gěi nǚpéngyou fā le wǔbǎi èrshí kuài hóngbāo.

He sent his girlfriend a 520-yuan red envelope.

Tips

culture

520 (wǔ èr líng) sounds like 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ, 'I love you'), so May 20th became an internet-era Valentine's Day in China. Sending a 520元 red envelope on WeChat, or a 1314 ('一生一世' = forever), are the classic digital love gestures.

mistakes

Read the digits individually (wǔ èr líng), not as 五百二十. The numeric amount is read normally: 520元 = wǔbǎi èrshí yuán.