告别 meaning in English

gàobié

to leave; to part from; to bid farewell to; to say goodbye to

HSK 3Traditional 告別14 strokes

Meaning of 告别

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

gàobié
  1. to leave; to part from
  2. to bid farewell to; to say goodbye to

How to use 告别

告别 is a slightly formal word for saying farewell, often used for meaningful partings, ceremonies, or leaving a place or stage of life. It can take an object directly. Example: 他向老师告别了。(Tā xiàng lǎoshī gàobié le.) He said goodbye to the teacher.

告 (gào) means to tell, and 别 (bié) means to part or separate. To 告别 is to tell someone you are parting, which is saying goodbye.

Common mistake: Learners often write 告别他 for everyday goodbyes, but in casual speech people just say 再见 (zàijiàn). Also, 告别 is usually used with 向 or 跟 plus a person, as in 跟朋友告别, or directly with places and things like 告别童年.

告别 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

他tā向xiàng学xué生shēng们men告gào别bié了le。
He bade farewell to the students.
唐táng纳nà德dé彻chè底dǐ告gào别bié了le那nà种zhǒng虚xū假jiǎ的de生shēng活huó。
Donald said goodbye to that fake life forever.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

告 gào · to say · 7 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7

别 bié · to leave · 7 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7

Related words

Words that share a character with 告别.

告诉gàosuto press charges; to file a complaint
别人biérénother people; others; other person
别的biédeelse; other
特别tèbiéunusual; special; very; especially; particularly
广告guǎnggàoto advertise; a commercial
报告bàogàoto inform; to report
区别qūbiédifference; to distinguish
分别fēnbiéto part; to leave each other; to distinguish; to tell apart
性别xìngbiésex; gender
转告zhuǎngàoto pass on; to communicate
个别gèbiéindividually; one by one; just one or two; exceptional; rare
警告jǐnggàoto warn; to admonish

Questions about 告别

What does 告别 mean?

告别 (gàobié) means "to leave; to part from; to bid farewell to; to say goodbye to".

How do you write 告别?

告别 is made of 2 characters: 告 (7 strokes), 别 (7 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.

Is 告别 an HSK word?

Yes. 告别 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

How is 告别 written in traditional Chinese?

In traditional characters, 告别 is written 告別.

What is the difference between 告别 and 再见?

再见 (zàijiàn) is what you actually say when leaving, like 'bye'. 告别 describes the act of bidding farewell and is more formal or emotional, so you would not say 告别 to a friend at the door.

What does 告别仪式 mean?

告别仪式 (gàobié yíshì) means a farewell ceremony, and it very often refers to a funeral service. Because of this, 告别 can carry a serious tone in some contexts.