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女友 (nǚ yǒu) — girlfriend

Definition

Refers specifically to a romantic girlfriend — a woman one is dating or in a relationship with, not just a female friend. The male counterpart is 男友.

noun
girlfriend
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 女友。
    Tā zuó tiān dài nǚ yǒu lái jiàn wǒ men le.
    He brought his girlfriend to meet us yesterday.
  • 女友。
    Wǒ hé nǚ yǒu yì qǐ kàn le nà bù diàn yǐng.
    My girlfriend and I watched that movie together.
  • 女友。
    Tā de nǚ yǒu shì gè hěn wēn róu de rén.
    His girlfriend is a very gentle person.

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.

女nǚfemale
友yǒufriend

女 points to a female 友, giving the sense of girlfriend.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Open 女 →

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 →
Appears in
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