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Zolgokh (Mongolian:Золгох) is a traditional Mongolian formalgreeting. Two people hold both their arms out, and the younger person's arms are placed under the elder person's and grasps their elbows to show support for their elder. The two people then touch each other's cheeks, usually accompanied with the phraseAmar mend üü (Mongolian:Амар мэнд үү), meaning "Are you well and peaceful?".
In Modern contexts, the greeting is usually reserved forTsagaan sar celebrations, where people greet each other with zolgokh, while sometimes holding akhadag andsuutei tsai.
Zolgokh is usually first performed among family members on the morning of the festival (the husband and wife do not perform the greeting with each other). The greeting is first performed with the eldest people in the family, sometimes accompanied with a gift of money and/or khadag.
The greeting would more accurately be termedZolgolt, but the word "Zolgokh" has become more widespread in English. The verb form in Mongolian is "Zolgo", and the "-kh" is added to mean "tozolgo". The noun form of the greeting in Mongolian is thusZolgolt, the suffix "-lt" being added to form a noun.