男友 (nán yǒu) — boyfriend (romantic partner); male friend (non-…

Definition

男友 literally means 'male friend', but in everyday use it almost always means a romantic boyfriend. It is a clipped form of 男朋友.

noun

boyfriend (romantic partner)male friend (non-romantic)

Measure word · 个

男友。
Tā jīn tiān yào dài nán yǒu lái wǒ jiā chī fàn.
She is bringing her boyfriend to my house for dinner today.
男友，。
Zhè shì dà xué shí qī de lǎo nán yǒu, wǒ men jīng cháng yì qǐ dǎ qiú.
This is an old male friend from college; we used to play ball together.
男友，。
Tā méi yǒu nán yǒu, yì zhí dān shēn.
She doesn't have a boyfriend; she's been single.

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.

男 means male and 友 means friend, so a male friend or boyfriend.

Characters in this word

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

田力男

男 is made from 田, a field, and 力, strength. It shows a man working with strength in a field.

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

又又友

友 is drawn as two 又, the hand form, side by side. The old explanation says two hands together mean friendship.

Appears in