good luck

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌɡʊd ˈlʌk/
Audio (US) (file)

Interjection

good luck

Used to wish fortune on someone or as encouragement.
Synonyms: best of luck; (chiefly in the entertainment industry) break a leg; come on; more power to your elbow; take heart; (opera) toi, toi, toi

Usage notes

This expression is considered to bring bad luck in the theatre, where – according to superstition – break a leg should be used in its place.

Translations

used to wish fortune on someone or as encouragement

Afrikaans: voorspoed (af)
American Sign Language: OpenA@SideChesthigh-PalmAcross OpenA@DistalSideChesthigh-PalmAcross
Amharic: መልካም ዕድል! (mälkam ʿədl!)
Apache:
Western Apache: gozhǫǫ doleeł
Arabic: بِالتَّوْفِيق!‎ (bi-t-tawfīq!), حَظًّا سَعِيدًا!‎ (ḥaẓẓan saʿīdan!), حَظّ سَعِيد!‎ (ḥaẓẓ saʿīd!), بِالنَّجَاح‎ (bi-n-najāḥ)
Hijazi Arabic: بالتوفيق‎ (bittawfīg)
Armenian: հաջողություն (hy) (haǰołutʿyun)
Azerbaijani: yaxşı şanslar, uğurlar!
Belarusian: ўда́чы! (ŭdáčy!)
Bulgarian: на до́бър час! (na dóbǎr čas!), успех! (bg) (uspeh!)
Catalan: sort!, bona sort!, molta sort!
Chinese:
Mandarin: 祝你好運／祝你好运 (zhù nǐ hǎoyùn), 加油 (zh) (jiāyóu), 乾巴得／干巴得 (gānbādei)
Cantonese: 祝你好運 (jūk néih hóuwahn)
Hakka: 祝你好運 (zhuk ngi ho yun)
Wu: 祝侬好運 (tsoq non hau hhyn)
Czech: hodně štěstí!
Danish: held og lykke
Dutch: veel geluk!, (veel) succes! (nl)
Esperanto: bonan ŝancon!
Estonian: edu!
Faroese: góða eydnu
Finnish: onnea! (fi), tsemppiä, lykkyä tykö (fi), onnea matkaan
French: bonne chance (fr), bon courage (fr)
Galician: boa sorte! f
Georgian: (formal) წარმატებებს გისურვებთ (c̣armaṭebebs gisurvebt), (informal) წარმატებებს გისურვებ (c̣armaṭebebs gisurveb)
German: viel Glück! n, viel Erfolg! m
Greek: καλή τύχη! f (kalí týchi!), καλή επιτυχία (kalí epitychía)
Hebrew: בְּהַצְלָחָה‎ (he) (behatslakhá)
Hindi: शुभ कामना! (śubh kāmnā!)
Hungarian: sok szerencsét! (hu), sok sikert!
Icelandic: (singular) gangi þér vel!, (plural) gangi ykkur vel!
Indonesian: semoga beruntung
Irish: go n-éirí an t-ádh leat, ádh mór ort
Italian: buona fortuna!, in bocca al lupo (it)
Japanese: 頑張って！ (がんばって！, ganbatte!), がんばれ！ (ganbare!), 健闘を祈る (ja) (けんとうをいのる, kentō o inoru), 幸運を (こううんを, kōun o), (formal) 頑張ってください (がんばってください！, ganbatte kudasai!)
Jingpho: lam shagu awng dang u ga!, gam kaja u ga!
Kazakh: іске сәт (ıske sät), сәттілік тілеймін (sättılık tıleimın)
Khmer: សំណាងល្អ (sɑmnaang lʾɑɑ)
Korean: 행운을 빕니다 (haeng'uneul bimnida), 행운을 빌어요 (haeng'uneul bireoyo), 행운을 빈다 (haeng'uneul binda), 파이팅 (ko) (paiting), 화이팅 (ko) (hwaiting)
Kyrgyz: ийгилик болсун (iygilik bolsun)
Ladino: mazal bueno!
Lao: ເຄາະດີ (khǫ dī)
Latin: feliciter
Latvian: veiksmi!
Lithuanian: sėkmės!
Livvi: lykkyy matkah
Luxembourgish: vill Gléck
Macedonian: со среќа! (so sreḱa!), среќно! (sreḱno!)
Malay: semoga berjaya! (ms)
Maltese: ix-xorti t-tajba!
Manx: aigh vie
Mongolian: аз сайн (az sajn)
Nepali: शुभ कामना (śubh kāmanā)
Norwegian: lykke til
Ojibwe: besh naa geget
Persian: موفق باشید‎ (movaffaq bâšid) (polite or to a group), موفق باشی‎ (movaffaq bâši) (familiar)
Polish: powodzenia! (pl)
Portuguese: boa sorte!
Punjabi: ਭਾਗ ਚੰਗੇ ਹੋਣ (bhāg caṅge hoṇ)
Romanian: noroc! (ro), mult noroc!, succes! (ro), bună șansă!
Russian: уда́чи! (udáči!), жела́ю уда́чи! (želáju udáči!), успе́ха! (ru) (uspéxa!)
Sanskrit: शुभं भवतु (śubhaṃ bhavatu)
Scottish Gaelic: gura math thèid leat, gura math thèid leibh
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: срећно!, сретно! (Croatian)
Roman: srećno!, sretno! (sh) (Croatian)
Slovak: veľa šťastia
Slovene: sréčno!
Sotho: tsela tsweu (st)
Spanish: ¡buena suerte!, ¡suerte! (es)
Swahili: kila la kheri
Swedish: lycka till (sv)
Tagalog: kaya mo 'yan!, galingan mo!
Thai: โชคดี (chôok-dii), ขอให้โชคดี (kɔ̌ɔ-hâi chôok-dii)
Tigrinya: please add this translation if you can
Tibetan: བྱ་བ་ལམ་འགྲོ་ཡོང་བར་ཤོག (bya ba lam 'gro yong bar shog)
Turkish: iyi şanslar
Ukrainian: уда́чі! (udáči!), щасти́! (ščastý!), хай щасти́ть! (xaj ščastýtʹ!), неха́й щасти́ть! (nexáj ščastýtʹ!)
Urdu: شبھ کامنا‎
Uzbek: omad tilamoq
Vietnamese: chúc may mắn!
Welsh: pob lwc
Yiddish: זאָל זײַן מיט מזל‎ (zol zayn mit mazl), זאָל זײַן מיט גליק‎ (zol zayn mit glik), מיטן רעכטן פֿוס‎ (mitn rekhtn fus)
Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Noun

good luck (uncountable)

Desirable or beneficial fortune.
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:
  “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
  Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”

Synonyms

good fortune
horseshoe up one's ass (vulgar)

Derived terms

streak of good luck

Translations

positive fortune

Armenian: հաջողություն (hy) (haǰołutʿyun)
Aymara: sami (ay)
Chichewa: mwayi
Chinese:
Cantonese: 好彩 (yue) (hou² coi²)
Mandarin: 好運／好运 (zh), 好运 (zh) (hǎoyùn), 幸運／幸运 (zh), 幸运 (zh) (xìngyùn), 機緣／机缘 (zh), 机缘 (zh) (jīyuán), 造化 (zh) (zàohua), 福氣／福气 (zh), 福气 (zh) (fúqì), 運氣／运气 (zh), 运气 (zh) (yùnqi), 紅運／红运 (zh), 红运 (zh) (hóngyùn), 大幸 (dàxìng)
Czech: štěstí (cs) n
Danish: held (da) n
Finnish: hyvä onni
French: veine (fr) f (familiar), bol (fr) m (informal), cul (fr) m (vulgar)
Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌴𐌹 f (audagei)
Greek:
Ancient: εὐτυχία f (eutukhía)
Icelandic: gæfa (is)
Irish: sonas m
Italian: fortuna (it) f
Japanese: 好運 (ja) (こううん, kōun)
Latin: felicitas
Manx: sonnys m
Polish: szczęście (pl) n
Portuguese: sorte (pt) f
Quechua: sami
Russian: уда́ча (ru) f (udáča), везе́ние (ru) n (vezénije)
Scottish Gaelic: sonas m
Spanish: suerte (es) f
Telugu: సౌభాగ్యము (te) (saubhāgyamu)
Tocharian B: sakw
Turkish: iyi şans
Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎑𐎚 (ḥẓt)
Volapük: benofät (vo)
Zulu: please add this translation if you can