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好友 (hǎo yǒu) — good friend

Definition

好友 is a more formal, written word for 'good friend,' often used in longer phrases or set expressions. Compare 朋友 (the everyday neutral word) and 哥们儿 (casual, male-only).

noun
good friend
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 好友。
    Tā shì wǒ dà xué shí de hǎo yǒu.
    He was a good friend of mine from college.
  • 。
    Wǒ hé hǎo yǒu yì qǐ kāi le jiā xiǎo diàn.
    My good friend and I opened a small shop together.
  • 好友。
    Duō nián de hǎo yǒu ràng wǒ men hù xiāng xìn rèn.
    Years of good friendship make us trust each other.

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.

好hǎogood
友yǒufriend

‘好’ means good and ‘友’ means friend, so they refer to a good friend.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

好 joins 女 (woman) and 子 (child), understood as a woman with a child, linked to goodness or affection.

Open 好 →

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
Friends & Social

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