交谊 (jiāo yì) — formal/literary friendship; friendly relations

Definition

Formal/literary word for friendship or friendly relations, typically between countries, organizations, or in official contexts. More elevated in register than the everyday 朋友关系 or 友谊.

noun
formal/literary friendshipfriendly relations
Easily confused

Examples

  • 交谊。
    Liǎng guó zhī jiān de jiāo yì yuán yuǎn liú cháng.
    The friendship between the two countries has a long history.
  • 交谊。
    Zhè cì huì yì jiā qiáng le shuāng fāng de jiāo yì.
    This meeting strengthened the friendly relations between both sides.
  • 交谊。
    Tā men zhī jiān de jiāo yì shēn hòu wú bǐ.
    The friendship between them is extremely deep.

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jiāoassociation
谊yìfriendship

交 (association) and 谊 (friendship) combine to mean friendly relations.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 誼; 谊 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
宜
宜yí誼yì
Same sound today

The traditional form 誼 pairs 言, the speech part, with 宜 as a sound part; the simplified 谊 is a later abbreviation.

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