对酒当歌 — “To sing loudly and joyfully while drinking”

对酒当歌 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to sing loudly and joyfully while drinking”. Often implying a philosophy of seizing the day and making the most of life due to its ephemeral nature, or simply enjoying the moment. Literally, “Sing while drinking”.

Frequency

对酒当歌 Pronunciation and Pinyin

对酒当歌 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
对	duì	5	to be correct or right
酒	jiǔ	10	alcoholic beverage
当	dāng	6	to act as or serve as
歌	gē	14	sing or song

Example Sentence with 对酒当歌

在这次聚会上，大家对酒当歌，分享着彼此的快乐和故事，气氛十分融洽。

At this gathering, everyone sang while drinking, sharing their joys and stories with each other, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Origin and Story of 对酒当歌

Jia Baoyu was strictly supervised by his father Jia Zheng in his studies, but he had no mind to read at all. When he opened the 'Ancient Yuefu' and saw Cao Cao's lines, 'Sing while drinking, how short is life?', he was instantly filled with a myriad of emotions.

He would put down one book and pick up another, flipping through them back and forth without any seriousness. Xiren was puzzled for a moment and just stood by, staring at him blankly. Later, she simply let him go out to play.