Happy birthday in Cornish
Penn-bloodh lowen
In Cornish, the phrase to know first is "Penn-bloodh lowen!" (Happy birthday!). The others are below, each with a note on when to use it.
Happy birthday in Cornish is Penn-bloodh lowen. Below are the greeting and the words for the card and the cake. Each phrase comes with a short note on when to use it.
Greetings
Penn-bloodh lowen!
Happy birthday!
The usual wish.
Replies
Meur ras!
Thank you!
The reply.
Useful words
penn-bloodh
birthday; anniversary
Also any anniversary.
karten benn-bloodh
birthday card
Penn softens to benn after karten.
tesen benn-bloodh
birthday cake
Tesen is cake.
About the words
Penn-bloodh means birthday or anniversary. It is made of penn, "head, end", and bloodh, "years of age", like Welsh pen-blwydd. Lowen means happy or glad. The Akademi Kernewek dictionary gives two spellings for compounds, Late (bedn-bloodh) and Middle (benn-bloodh); the forms below are the Middle ones.
Common questions
How do you say happy birthday in Cornish?
Penn-bloodh lowen!
Happy birthday in the other Celtic languages
Further reading
Cornish is on blas. now
Grammar, mutations, vocabulary, and reading with spaced repetition. The Cornish course is in the blas. app now.
Start learning CornishCornish phrases for the year ahead
Cornish phrases for everyday occasions
Sources
Every phrase and fact on this page was checked against the sources below. Last checked 2026-10-20.
- Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org
- Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org
- Akademi Kernewek, Gerlyver Kernewek (Standard Written Form): birthday card karten bedn-bloodh L n.f, karten benn-bloodh M n.f
- Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org
- Tatoeba: Tatoeba #3280475 by pne, CC BY 2.0 FR
- Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org
- Akademi Kernewek, Gerlyver Kernewek (Standard Written Form): birthday cake tesen bedn-bloodh L n.f, tesen benn-bloodh M n.f
- Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org
- Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org
- Tatoeba: Tatoeba #2997943 by pne, CC BY 2.0 FR
Credit: Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.