How to Say Merry Christmas in Welsh

Merry Christmas in Welsh is Nadolig Llawen. It’s the greeting Visit Wales uses for the season, and the one the First Minister of Wales chose to open and close her 2024 Christmas message. If you have family in Wales, or grew up there and now write home from further away, these two words are the place to start. Below you’ll find what they mean, a handful of other phrases for the whole family, and examples of how to put them in a card.

Nadolig Llawen: what it means, word by word

• Nadolig means Christmas. It comes, through Old Welsh, from the Latin for “birth”.
• Llawen means joyful or merry.

So Nadolig Llawen is, quite literally, “Christmas joyful”. In Welsh the adjective usually follows the noun, which is why the order is the reverse of English. Write both words with a capital letter when the greeting stands on its own, as it does at the top of a card.

One small grammar note that will help with the next section: Welsh nouns are masculine or feminine, and a feminine noun changes the first letter of the adjective after it (a “soft mutation”). Nadolig is masculine, so llawen stays as it is. Blwyddyn (year) is feminine, which is why “Happy New Year” ends in dda rather than da.

We don’t write out pronunciations on this page: English respellings of Welsh sounds tend to mislead more than they help. If there’s a Welsh speaker in your family, ask them to say it for you. They will probably be delighted to be asked.

Other Welsh phrases for a Christmas card

To the whole family

• Nadolig Llawen i chi gyd means “Merry Christmas to you all”. It’s the phrase the Welsh Government’s First Minister opened with in her 2024 Christmas message, and it suits a card to a household.
• I’r teulu annwyl means “To the dear family”. It works well as the opening line of a card addressed to everyone at home.
• Annwyl followed by a name means “Dear…”, as in Annwyl Owen.

Adding the New Year

• Blwyddyn Newydd Dda means “Happy New Year”.
• Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda means “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”. A is simply “and”.

If you’re sending a card after Christmas, our guide to New Year greetings in Welsh has more on Nos Galan, Calennig and the rest of the turn of the year.

A longer wish

• Nadolig Llawen a heddwch ar y ddaear means “Merry Christmas and peace on earth”.
• Hoffwn ddymuno i chi Nadolig bendigedig llawn llawenydd a chariad means “I’d like to wish you a wonderful Christmas full of joy and love”. It’s a full sentence, so it reads best on its own line.

Signing off

• Gyda chariad means “With love”. (Cariad, love, becomes chariad after gyda: another of those first-letter changes.)
• Cofion cynnes means “Warm regards”, friendly without being gushing.
• Oddi wrth means “From”, and Oddi wrth y teulu… followed by your surname means “From the … family”.
• Diolch o galon means “Thank you from the heart”, a lovely line if someone sent a parcel or had you to stay.

Words for grandparents

Welsh has two common words for grandmother: Nain, heard most in North Wales, and Mam-gu, preferred in the South. Families tend to be loyal to one or the other, so if you’re writing to a grandparent, use the word they use.

How to write it in a card: bilingual examples

You don’t need to write the whole card in Welsh. A greeting at the top, an English message in the middle and a Welsh sign-off at the bottom reads naturally and is an easy way to begin. Each example below gives the card as written, then what the Welsh part means.

1. To the whole family at home

Nadolig Llawen i chi gyd! The house in Ohio is decorated, but nothing beats the view from Mam’s kitchen window. Save me a place at the table next year.

Gyda chariad, Elin

Welsh parts: “Merry Christmas to you all!” and “With love”.

2. To a grandmother in the North

To Nain, with love from Toronto. Nadolig Llawen! I made your bara brith recipe again and it almost came out right.

Welsh part: “Merry Christmas!”

3. To a cousin you grew up with

Annwyl Owen,

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! Do you still go up the mountain on Boxing Day? Take a photo from the top for me.

Cofion cynnes, Rhys

Welsh parts: “Dear Owen”, “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!” and “Warm regards”.

4. From the whole household

Nadolig Llawen a heddwch ar y ddaear. Thinking of everyone in the valley this Christmas, from all four of us and the dog.

Oddi wrth y teulu Morgan

Welsh parts: “Merry Christmas and peace on earth” and “From the Morgan family”.

5. A thank-you tucked into a Christmas card

Diolch o galon for the parcel. The Welsh cakes lasted precisely one afternoon. Nadolig Llawen to you both.

Welsh parts: “Thank you from the heart” and “Merry Christmas”.

6. A card with a little homesickness in it

There’s a Welsh word for this feeling: hiraeth. Missing you all, and the hills, and the chapel at Christmas.

I’r teulu annwyl, Nadolig Llawen.

Welsh parts: hiraeth, the longing for home or for a place you belong; “To the dear family, Merry Christmas”.

7. A warmer, longer greeting

Hoffwn ddymuno i chi Nadolig bendigedig llawn llawenydd a chariad. We’ll ring on Christmas morning, before the sprouts go on.

Welsh part: “I’d like to wish you a wonderful Christmas full of joy and love”.

When the Welsh greeting is used

Nadolig Llawen is the greeting for the whole Christmas season, from the first cards in December to the last visits after Boxing Day (Gŵyl San Steffan in Welsh). Father Christmas is Siôn Corn, and Christmas in Wales has customs of its own, from Plygain, the old carol services where groups of singers take turns, mostly unaccompanied, to the Mari Lwyd, the “Grey Mare” carried from door to door in the dark weeks of December and January. They’re stories for another page: our guide to Christmas customs in Wales tells them properly.

For greetings in the other languages we cover, from Irish to Polish, see our guide to Christmas wishes around the world.

Checked by a native speaker

The Welsh greetings on this page were checked by a native Welsh speaker before publication.

Cards to carry your Nadolig Llawen

Every card in our collection of cards from Wales carries its greeting in Welsh, set as text rather than painted in so it stays sharp. Pick a scene, add your own message underneath and send it by email or text, or schedule it to arrive on Christmas morning.