Mabuhay is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

greeting, usually expressed as ''Mabuhay!'', which literally means "

long live ''Viva'', ''vive'', and ''vivat'' are interjections used in the Romance languages. ''Viva'' in Spanish (plural ), Portuguese, and Italian (Also . in plural is rare), ''Vive'' in French, and ''Vivat'' in Latin (plural ) are subjunctive fo ...

". The term is also occasionally used for toasts during celebrations to mean "cheers". It is similar to the Hawaiian expression "

aloha ''Aloha'' ( , ) is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is used to define ...

". A more modern appropriation of the

greeting Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between indivi ...

is its use in the local hospitality industry to welcome guests—a practice rooted in a 1993 campaign launched by restaurateur Rod Ongpauco to more uniquely welcome foreign visitors to the Philippines. "Mabuhay" is also the name of the inflight magazine published by

Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines (PAL), a trade name of PAL Holdings, Inc. ( PSEPAL (Philippine Air Lines until 1970), is the flag carrier airline of the Philippines. Headquartered at the PNB Financial Center in Pasay, the airline was founded in 1941 and ...

, as well as its frequent-flyer program.

Examples

* "''Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Repúblika!''"
("Long live the Philippines! Long live the Republic!") * "''Mabuhay ang Pangulo!''"
("Long live the President!") * "''Mabuhay ang bagong kasál!''"
("Long live/cheers to the newlyweds!")

Cognates in other languages

A number of other

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...

have terms that are cognate with the term. The

Bisayan languages The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. ...

, for example, use the term "Mabuhi" in a manner similar to "Mabuhay".

''Viva''

Alternatively, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

equivalent ''Viva'' is used in almost exclusively

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

contexts, specifically in shouts of praise directed at a

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocacy, advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, ...

or to

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

during fiestas and assemblies (e.g., "''¡Viva Señor Santo Niño!''")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabuhay (Expression) Greetings Tagalog words and phrases Filipino language

Examples

Cognates in other languages

''Viva''

See also

References