Christmas Nativity Christianity in Chinese / Japanese...

基督教徒 is the most verbose (longest) word for “Christian” in the Chinese and Japanese languages.

The literal translation of the first two characters is Christ.
The third Character means “Religion” or “Teaching.”
The last character means “apprentice” or “disciple.”

Altogether these three characters mean “Christ's Teaching Disciple” or “Christ's Religion Apprentice.”

Note: The last two characters are sometimes translated together as “follower (of a religion),” so you could also say it means “Follower of Christ.”

This four-character title makes it very clear what you are talking about in Chinese.

See Also:  Jesus Christ | God of Abraham

基督教 is the Chinese, Japanese and Korean word for “Christianity.”

Just as in English, this word is often used to mean “Protestant” but includes Catholics in the true definition.

It is the word used to refer to the whole “Christian religion” or “Christian Faith,” and therefore, it can be translated as “Christianity.” However, used as an adjective in regard to a person, it would translate as “Christian.” But more like saying, “His religion is Christianity,” rather than a noun form.

If you break it apart, the characters mean Base/Foundation Leading/Supervising Religion/Teaching. It makes more sense in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The first two characters together are translated as “Christ.” So you can also say this means “Christ's Religion” or “Christ's Teachings” when directly translated, or in reverse, “The Religion of Christ” or “The Teaching of Christ.”

Notes: The last character has a slight difference in one stroke - however, in calligraphic form, this will not be apparent. This entry can easily be read by any Korean person who knows Hanja characters (Chinese characters used in Korean).

See Also:  Jesus Christ | God of Abraham

聖誕 is how to write Christmas in Chinese.

The original meaning was the Emperor's Birthday (and sometimes Confucius' birthday), but in modern times, this is almost exclusively used to refer to the western religious holiday of Christmas.

クリスマス is Christmas in Japanese.

This sounds like the English title Christmas, using Japanese sounds. This can also be used to represent the surname Christmas.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

This is “Merry Christmas” in Chinese.

メリークリスマス is “Merry Christmas” in Japanese Katakana.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.