故友 (gù yǒu) — deceased friend (formal, literary)

Definition

Literary/formal noun for a friend who has passed away. More written than 老朋友 ('old friend', who is still alive).

noun
deceased friend (formal, literary)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 故友。
    Zhè wèi gù yǒu shēng qián shì yí wèi zhù míng de zuò jiā.
    This deceased friend was a famous writer during his lifetime.
  • 故友。
    Tā xiě le yì piān wén zhāng jì niàn tā de gù yǒu.
    He wrote an article in memory of his deceased friend.
  • 故友。
    gù yǒu De lí qù ràng wǒ men dōu hěn nán guò.
    The passing of our deceased friend made us all very sad.

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.

故gùold or departed
友yǒufriend

故 marks old or departed and 友 means friend, so the word names a friend who has died.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攵Written in full as攴pū
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ故gù
Same sound today

故 uses 古 for the sound and 攵, written in full as 攴, for the meaning.

Open 故 →

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 →

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