Japanese · At the Izakaya
乾杯
kanpai
kahn-PYE · /kampai/
Cheers! / Bottoms up!
1/5 Grandma-safe
mild, playful; fine on daytime TV
Literally
"dry the cup"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
The toast — glasses up, "kanpai!", and crucially: wait for it. Drinking before the group kanpai is a genuine faux pas, and juniors should angle their glass rim a touch below a senior's when they clink. Grandma-safe and non-negotiable at any Japanese drinking table. The "dry the cup" origin technically means drain it, but nobody enforces that.
Heard in the wild
お疲れさま、乾杯!
Good work today — cheers!
Where it lands
Nationwide
Quick answers
- What does "乾杯" mean?
- In Japanese, "乾杯" means "Cheers! / Bottoms up!". Literally it's "dry the cup". The toast — glasses up, "kanpai!", and crucially: wait for it. Drinking before the group kanpai is a genuine faux pas, and juniors should angle their glass rim a touch below a senior's when they clink. Grandma-safe and non-negotiable at any Japanese drinking table. The "dry the cup" origin technically means drain it, but nobody enforces that.
- Is "乾杯" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
- How do you pronounce "乾杯"?
- Say it "kahn-PYE" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: kampai.
Related in Japanese
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