白头偕老

bái tóu xié lǎo

(of a couple) to grow old together

Character by character

白bái
white

头tóu
heads

偕xié
together

老lǎo
grow old

婚礼上，大家举杯祝新郎新娘白头偕老。

At the wedding everyone raised their glasses and wished the bride and groom a long life together.

Tone: positive (praise).

The standard wedding wish: 祝你们白头偕老. 偕 (xié) means “together”, as in 偕同. In speech also 白头到老. Said of a long marriage that lasted, as here.

Learn this in Lesson 253 · HSK 9+: 杨绛《我们仨》 (Yang Jiang’s We Three)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.