Some numbers are considered auspicious or inauspicious in Chinese and are important to know to avoid social taboos. Keep these numbers in mind when choosing a phone number, apartment, wedding date, price, or just about anything to do with numbers in Chinese.
Table of Contents
Lucky numbers in Chinese
Two, three, six, eight and nine are lucky numbers in Chinese.
Two 二 (èr) – A Pair
Chinese luck star rating:
The number 二 (èr) is considered somewhat lucky, but not especially so in Chinese. There is a saying in Chinese that “good things happen in pairs”好事成双 (hǎoshì chéng shuāng), thus two is considered a good number. It is not uncommon in Chinese to see things grouped into twos as opposed to odd numbers. You will also notice many Chinese words are two characters, in fact nearly half of Chinese words are two characters long.
Three 三 (sān) – Birth and Life
Chinese luck rating:
The number three 三 (sān) sounds similar to the word meaning “birth” or “life”生 (shēng), and thus carries a good meaning. Three is the second most lucky number in Chinese after eight, and for this reason you may find people have phone numbers containing both threes and eights.
Six 六 (liù) – Flow and Progress
Chinese luck rating:
The number six 六 (liù) has a similar pronunciation to 流 (liú), meaning flow and takes on the meaning of smooth progress in life. It is common to see six used with eight in phone numbers and number plates.
Eight 八 (bā) – Wealth and Fortune
Chinese luck rating:
Eight 八 (bā) is the luckiest number in Chinese as it sounds similar to 发 (fā), meaning “wealth” or “fortune”. Eight is sort after number in phone numbers, car number plates, addresses. Even the 2008 Beijing Olympics started on 8/8/08 at 8pm.
Nine 九 (jiǔ) – Longevity
Chinese luck rating:
Nine 九 (jiǔ) sounds similar to the word 久 (jiǔ) meaning “everlasting” and also carries the meaning of “longevity”. It is
Unlucky numbers in Chinese
Four 四 (sì) – Death
Chinese luck rating:
The number four 四 (sì) is considered a very unlucky number in Chinese as it sounds like the word meaning “to die” 四 (sì). The number four is avoided in phone numbers, car number plates and street addresses. In some Chinese speaking countries you will find that the floor numbers will relabel
Summary
To summarise, this tables shows the numbers zero to nine, indicating whether they are lucky (🙂), indifferent (😐) or unlucky (😟).
