TongTong
Sign in

友爱 (yǒu ài) — friendly affection; fraternal love

Definition

Noun for friendly, brotherly affection between people or groups — often a collective, harmonious feeling (as in 团结友爱), not romantic love (爱).

noun
friendly affectionfraternal love

Examples

  • 友爱。
    Tā men zhī jiān de yǒu ài ràng rén gǎn dòng.
    The friendly affection between them is touching.
  • 友爱。
    Zhè ge shè qū chōng mǎn le yǒu ài yǔ hù zhù.
    This community is full of fraternal love and mutual help.
  • 友爱。
    Zhēn zhèng de yǒu ài bù xū yào yán yǔ lái biǎo dá.
    True fraternal love doesn't need words to express.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

友yǒufriendliness
爱àilove

友 conveys friendliness and 爱 conveys love, together meaning friendly affection.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

友 is drawn as two 又, the hand form, side by side. The old explanation says two hands together mean friendship.

Open 友 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 愛; 爱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
旡
旡jì愛ài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 愛, an older shape paired 心 (heart) with 旡 as its sound part; later a foot-like 夊 was added below. The simplified 爱 is a later variant that replaces the lower part with 友.

Open 爱 →
Appears in
Friends & Social

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.