交游 (jiāo yóu) — to make friends; to have friendly relations (with someone); to socialize

Definition

A written/literary verb meaning 'to socialize, to keep friendly contact with people' — used in formal prose and essays rather than daily speech, unlike the colloquial 交朋友.

verb
to make friendsto have friendly relations (with someone)to socialize
Easily confused

Examples

  • 交游，。
    Tā xǐ huan jiāo yóu guǎng fàn, gè háng gè yè dōu yǒu péng you.
    He likes to make friends widely and has friends from all walks of life.
  • ，交游。
    Gǔ dài wén rén cháng yǐ shī huì yǒu, bǐ cǐ jiāo yóu.
    Ancient literati often gathered with friends through poetry and socialized with each other.
  • ，交游。
    Zài tā liú xué qī jiān, jiāo yóu le bù shǎo yì guó péng you.
    During his study abroad, he made quite a few foreign friends.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

交jiāoassociate
游yóumove about

交 “associate” and 游 “move about” combine to mean socializing and making friends.

Characters in this word

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.

Open 交 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
斿
斿yóu游yóu
Same sound today

游 combines 水 (water) with 斿, which gives the sound yóu and also relates to travelling.

Open 游 →

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