旧交 (jiù jiāo) — old acquaintance; old friend

Definition

noun

old acquaintanceold friend

Easily confused

旧交，。
Tā shì wǒ de jiù jiāo, wǒ men rèn shi èr shí nián le.
He is an old acquaintance of mine; we've known each other for twenty years.
旧交。
Zhè cì jù huì wǒ jiàn dào le hěn duō jiù jiāo.
At this gathering I saw many old friends.
，旧交。
Suī rán duō nián wèi jiàn, dàn wǒ men de jiù jiāo qíng yì yī rán shēn hòu.
Although we haven't seen each other for years, the old friendship between us is still deep.

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.

旧jiùold/former

交jiāoacquaintance/friend

旧 (old/former) with 交 (acquaintance) gives an old friend.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 舊; 旧 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

雈雈huánowl

Sound part声符shēngfú

臼

Same sound today

The traditional form of 旧 is 舊, which shows 雈, an owl, above 臼, which gives the sound.

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

交 originally drew a human with crossed legs. In the modern shape, the upper part resembles a standing person.