Friend in Chinese: 朋友 (Péngyou) and 12 Words for Friends and Friendship

Friend in Chinese is 朋友 (péngyou). It's the word for any friend, male or female, one person or many, and it's the same word in "my friend" (我的朋友, wǒ de péngyou) and "we're friends" (我们是朋友, wǒmen shì péngyou). Friendship is 友谊 (yǒuyì).

Past that one word, Chinese has a rich set of terms for different kinds of friends: best friends, close girlfriends, old buddies, classmates, and the very specific 男朋友 and 女朋友 that catch learners out. This guide covers 12 of them, the two characters inside 朋友, and the phrases you'll use to make friends in Chinese, as part of our essential Chinese phrases guide.

The characters: 朋 and 友

朋友 is two characters that both mean "friend" on their own:

• 朋 (péng) is two 月 side by side. In old forms it showed two strings of shells (money) hung together, later read as two companions standing shoulder to shoulder.
• 友 (yǒu) is two hands, one over the other: helping hands, a handshake. This is the character you'll see in 友谊 (friendship), 友好 (friendly), and 好友 (good friend).

The second syllable of 朋友 is a neutral tone: péng-you, light and quick. If you want the characters for friendship for a card or a piece of calligraphy, the usual choice is 友谊 (yǒuyì) or the single character 友. To practice writing them, our free character practice sheet generator prints a stroke-order grid for 朋友 in one click.

12 words for friends in Chinese

• 朋友 (péngyou): friend. The all-purpose word.
• 好朋友 (hǎo péngyou): good friend, close friend. The standard way to say "best friend" in speech: 他是我最好的朋友 ("he's my best friend").
• 好友 (hǎoyǒu): good friend, and also "friend" in the social-media sense. Adding someone on WeChat is 加好友 (jiā hǎoyǒu).
• 闺蜜 (guīmì): a woman's best female friend, her "bestie". Very common, very warm, and only for women talking about their close girlfriends.
• 哥们儿 (gēmenr): buddy, bro. Mostly northern, mostly men. 他是我哥们儿 ("he's my bro"). Our guide to erhua explains the "r" on the end.
• 兄弟 (xiōngdì): literally "brothers", used for close male friends the way English uses "brother" or "my boys".
• 老朋友 (lǎo péngyou): old friend, someone you've known for years.
• 知己 (zhījǐ): a soulmate friend, "one who knows me". Literary and heartfelt. A famous line says 人生得一知己足矣: one true friend in a lifetime is enough.
• 同学 (tóngxué): classmate. In China, classmates are a friend category of their own, and people call old classmates 老同学 decades later.
• 同事 (tóngshì): coworker, colleague. Not a friend word exactly, but often paired with 朋友: 同事兼朋友 ("coworker and friend").
• 伙伴 (huǒbàn): partner, companion. Business partners, teammates, and (in the form 小伙伴, xiǎo huǒbàn) "pals" in a cute, slightly playful way.
• 网友 (wǎngyǒu): online friend, internet friend. 网 is "net". Also the neutral word news sites use for "netizens".

The 男朋友 / 女朋友 trap

This one matters. 男朋友 (nán péngyou) means boyfriend, not "male friend", and 女朋友 (nǚ péngyou) means girlfriend, not "female friend". If you say 她是我的女朋友 about a platonic friend, you've announced a relationship.

To say "a friend who's a girl" without the romance, say 女性朋友 (nǚxìng péngyou) or just 一个朋友 (yí ge péngyou, "a friend") and let context do the work. The full set of relationship words is in our guide to terms of endearment in Chinese.

Friendship in Chinese: the key phrases

• 友谊 (yǒuyì): friendship, the noun. 我们的友谊 ("our friendship").
• 友情 (yǒuqíng): friendship as a feeling, the warmth between friends. Song lyrics love this one.
• 友好 (yǒuhǎo): friendly. 他很友好 ("he's friendly").
• 交朋友 (jiāo péngyou): to make friends. 我想交朋友 ("I want to make friends").
• 我们做朋友吧 (wǒmen zuò péngyou ba): "let's be friends". Also, unfortunately, the standard gentle rejection, exactly as in English.
• 友谊万岁 (yǒuyì wànsuì): "long live friendship", a toast among friends.

Three Chinese sayings about friends

• 有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎 (yǒu péng zì yuǎnfāng lái, bú yì lè hū): "Isn't it a joy when a friend comes from afar?" The opening lines of the Analects of Confucius, and the line every Chinese host quotes when you visit.
• 在家靠父母，出门靠朋友 (zài jiā kào fùmǔ, chūmén kào péngyou): "At home rely on your parents; away from home rely on friends."
• 患难见真情 (huànnàn jiàn zhēnqíng): "Hardship reveals true feeling", the Chinese "a friend in need is a friend indeed".

Our collection of Chinese proverbs has more where those came from.

Every word linked above has a dictionary page with native audio, so you can hear the neutral tone on péngyou and the "r" on gēmenr. Create a free Chenjin account to save these as flashcards and meet them again in stories, where 朋友 is one of the most frequent nouns you'll read.

FAQ

How do you say friend in Mandarin?

朋友 (péngyou). "My friend" is 我的朋友 (wǒ de péngyou), and "good friend" or "best friend" is 好朋友 (hǎo péngyou).

What is the Chinese character for friendship?

友谊 (yǒuyì) is the word for friendship. The single character 友 (yǒu), which shows two hands together, means "friend" and is the usual choice for calligraphy or a card.

How do you say best friend in Chinese?

最好的朋友 (zuì hǎo de péngyou) or simply 好朋友. Women call their best female friend 闺蜜 (guīmì); men often call a close friend 哥们儿 (gēmenr) or 兄弟 (xiōngdì).

Does 女朋友 mean female friend?

No. 女朋友 (nǚ péngyou) means girlfriend and 男朋友 (nán péngyou) means boyfriend. For a platonic friend, say 女性朋友 (nǚxìng péngyou) or just 朋友.

What does peng you mean?

péngyou (朋友) means friend. 朋 and 友 are both old characters for "friend", and together they make the modern everyday word.

Keep learning

• 150 Essential Chinese Phrases for Beginners (with Pinyin)
• Terms of endearment in Chinese: sweet names for partners and family
• Hello in Chinese: 你好 and 10 More Ways to Say Hi
• How Are You in Chinese: 你好吗 and What People Say Instead
• Funny Chinese nicknames for friends and family
• Chinese proverbs with pinyin and meanings