祝福(zhù fú) - to wish someone well, to bless; a blessing, good wishes in Mandarin

祝福 (zhù fú) works as both verb and noun without changing shape: 我祝福你 (I wish you well) and 谢谢你的祝福 (thank you for your good wishes). It belongs to weddings, birthdays, graduations and farewells, and it is warm rather than solemn.

Compare it with plain 祝, which introduces the specific wish and needs something to follow: 祝你生日快乐, 祝你顺利. 祝福 is the whole gesture rather than the words inside it, so you can 送上祝福 or 表示祝福 without ever spelling out what you hoped for.

The trap is religion. English bless implies a priest or a deity, but 祝福 is what any friend does for another, and God is nowhere in it. If you genuinely mean a religious blessing you want 保佑 (a deity protecting someone) or 祈祷 (to pray).