Vocabulary · 词汇 cíhuì

朋友

péngyou

The everyday word for friend, and the warm web of relationships built around it: good friends, old friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, and the simple act of making a friend.

~5 min read

字源 zìyuán Etymology & Structure

字源洞见 zìyuán dòngjiàn · Etymological Insight

朋 péng originally pictured two strings of cowrie shells hung together, an ancient unit of value and, by extension, things of a kind grouped side by side; it came to mean a companion or a group of peers. In its modern form the character looks like two 月 moons standing together, a fitting accident of shape for "those who keep company." 友 yǒu shows two right hands reaching the same way, the old graph for hands joined in cooperation, hence "friend, to befriend."

Joined, 朋友 pairs two words that each already mean "companion": peers grouped together (朋) and hands clasped in goodwill (友). The doubling is typical of how Chinese builds a stable two-syllable noun out of two near-synonyms. The result is the warm, general word for the people you choose to keep close, distinct from family (family ties you are born into; friends you make).

朋友 péngyou The Core Word

朋友 péngyou friend

N 名词 míngcí

The everyday word for a friend, of any closeness from casual to dear. Note the neutral tone on the second syllable (péngyou, not péngyǒu) in ordinary speech. It is one of the first nouns every learner meets and one of the most useful, since it anchors a whole family of relationship words.

他是我的朋友。

Tā shì wǒ de péngyou.

He is my friend.

我们是好朋友。

Wǒmen shì hǎo péngyou.

We are good friends.

这位是我的中国朋友。

Zhè wèi shì wǒ de Zhōngguó péngyou.

This is my friend from China.

语法 yǔfǎ · Grammar To say "my friend," use 我的朋友 (wǒ de péngyou); the 的 is often kept here, unlike with close family (我妈 my mom), because friendship is not an inalienable relationship. The polite measure word for a person is 位 wèi (这位朋友), while 个 gè is neutral (一个朋友).

朋友的种类 péngyou de zhǒnglèi Kinds of Friend

好朋友 hǎo péngyou good friend; close friend

A close friend, the most common way to mark closeness. 好 hǎo (good) stacks directly in front. For an even closer bond there is 知己 zhījǐ, "one who knows me," a soulmate-friend who truly understands you, a notion with deep roots in classical Chinese friendship.

她是我最好的朋友。

Tā shì wǒ zuì hǎo de péngyou.

She is my best friend.

老朋友 lǎo péngyou old friend; longtime friend

A friend of long standing. 老 lǎo (old) marks the length of the friendship, not the person's age. A warm word, often used on reunion: 老朋友了 ("we go way back"). The opposite, a new friend, is 新朋友 xīn péngyou.

我们是多年的老朋友。

Wǒmen shì duōnián de lǎo péngyou.

We have been old friends for many years.

网友 wǎngyǒu online friend; internet friend

A friend made online, from 网 wǎng (net) + 友 yǒu (friend). A thoroughly modern coinage and an extremely common one. Note that 友 contracts here from 朋友, a regular pattern: 友 alone serves as the bound "friend" element in compounds (校友 alumnus, 战友 comrade-in-arms, 笔友 pen pal).

我和他是网友，还没见过面。

Wǒ hé tā shì wǎngyǒu, hái méi jiànguo miàn.

He and I are online friends; we have not met in person yet.

男女朋友 nán nǚ péngyou Boyfriend & Girlfriend

男朋友 / 女朋友 nán péngyou / nǚ péngyou boyfriend / girlfriend

Adding 男 nán (male) or 女 nǚ (female) in front of 朋友 turns it romantic: 男朋友 is "boyfriend," 女朋友 is "girlfriend." This is the default reading, so to specify a platonic friend who happens to be male or female, speakers add words: 一个男性朋友 or 一个男生朋友 (a friend who is a guy). Common shortenings in speech are 男友 and 女友.

你有男朋友吗？

Nǐ yǒu nán péngyou ma?

Do you have a boyfriend?

这是我女朋友。

Zhè shì wǒ nǚ péngyou.

This is my girlfriend.

文化注 wénhuà zhù · Cultural Note To introduce a romantic partner more formally, 对象 duìxiàng (steady partner, marriage prospect) is common, especially among older speakers, and 伴侣 bànlǚ (life partner) is more formal still. Among young people, 男朋友 / 女朋友 are the everyday terms.

交朋友 jiāo péngyou Making Friends

交朋友 jiāo péngyou to make friends

VO 动宾 dòngbīn

A verb-object phrase: 交 jiāo (to associate with, to form bonds) + 朋友. To make a single friend is 交个朋友 (with 个 splitting the phrase). The same 交 appears in 交流 (to exchange, communicate) and 社交 (social interaction), all built on the sense of mutual exchange.

我想多交一些朋友。

Wǒ xiǎng duō jiāo yìxiē péngyou.

I would like to make more friends.

我们交个朋友吧！

Wǒmen jiāo ge péngyou ba!

Let's be friends!

成语 chéngyǔ Idioms of Friendship

朋友遍天下 péngyou biàn tiānxià to have friends all over the world A warm saying praising someone with a wide circle of friends everywhere. 遍 biàn means "all over," 天下 "under heaven, the whole world." Often paired with the encouraging proverb 在家靠父母，出门靠朋友 ("at home you rely on parents; away from home you rely on friends"), which captures the practical importance of friendship in Chinese social life.

志同道合 zhì tóng dào hé sharing the same goals and ideals — kindred spirits Describes friends or partners who share the same ambitions (志 zhì) and follow the same path (道 dào). The classical ideal of friendship: not mere companionship but a meeting of values and direction. Used for close friends, allies, and collaborators who are truly aligned in what they want and believe.

患难之交 huànnàn zhī jiāo a friend made in times of hardship — a friend in adversity A friendship forged through shared difficulty, prized in Chinese culture as the truest kind. 患难 huànnàn means hardship and danger; 交 jiāo here is the noun "friendship, bond." The related proverb is 患难见真情 ("adversity reveals true feeling"): you learn who your real friends are when times are hard.