# friend / lover



## cheshire

I think "one's girl/boy frineds" means "one's lovers" in English, Germany, and Chinese Beijin-hua. Is it really so? What about other languages?

Meine Freundin
My girlfriend
我女朋友​


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## Setwale_Charm

In Russian the corresponding words _друг/подруга_ are even more often used to mean simply "a friend", but this question has always interested me too, esp. with regard to German.


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## DrLindenbrock

In Italian _amico_ (m.) or _amica_ (f.) generally mean "friend" without any romantic suggestion.
There are lots of words for boyfriend or girlfriend, also depending on the part of Italy you consider. I'd say the two most used ones are _fidanzato/a_* and _ragazzo/a_**.

* _fidanzato_ used to mean "fiancé/e" but now its meaning is wider and can mean even one's sweetheart in highschool, not necessarily the person one is going to marry.
* _ragazzo_ generally means "boy, guy". So "my boyfriend" is, literally, "my guy". We normally put a possessive adjective in front of it when meaning "boyfriend", so we say _il mio ragazzo, il tuo ragazzo_ etc. The same holds true for "girlfriend".

Sometimes "amico/a" can be interpreted as "boyfr./girlfriend", especially when you want to be sarcastic. In that case the diminutive amichetto/a works even better!


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## parakseno

In Romanian the word for friend ("prieten"/"prietenă") doesn't usually have a romantic meaning, but in CAN be used with this meaning (one can only guess whether it implies any romantic relation from the context). "amic"(m.)/"amică"(f.) are used just for expressing friendship.

"iubit"/iubită" mean "lover" (no doubt about the meaning). Another word I can think of which is used in this case is "drăguţ"/drăguţă" but they are not so frequently used.


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## shine

In Irish the word for friend is 'mo chara' but a girl/boy friend is 'm'anam chara' which literaly translates as my soul mate


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## lazarus1907

cheshire said:


> I think "one's girl/boy frineds" means "one's lovers" in English, Germany, and Chinese Beijin-hua. Is it really so? What about other languages?


This doesn't apply to many Latin-derived languages in Europe, where a suffix is used to differenciate between male and female friends. For "lover friends" other words are used. Of course, you can always use them in such way that people understand it differently, but it is not common.

This seems to be consistent with Italian and Romanian so far. Let me add Spanish to the list.


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## betulina

lazarus1907 said:


> This seems to be consistent with Italian and Romanian so far. Let me add Spanish to the list.



And let me add Catalan to the same list.


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## Outsider

Not in Portuguese. 

boyfriend/girlfriend (as in lovers): namorado/namorada
boyfriend/girlfriend (as in friends): amigo/amiga


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## AGATHA2

Setwale_Charm said:


> In Russian the corresponding words _друг/подруга_ are even more often used to mean simply "a friend", but this question has always interested me too, esp. with regard to German.


 
Thats complicated in german. If you say "ein Freund, eine Freundin" it means "just a friend"
If you say "mein Freund, meine Freundin" it means your lover


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## cheshire

DrLindenbrock said:


> Sometimes "amico/a" can be interpreted as "boyfr./girlfriend", especially when you want to be sarcastic. In that case the diminutive amichetto/a works even better!


Is it only in Italian?!


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## jun

In *Korean*, the word "friend" doesn't have a gender. 
We just call our friend "친구" meaning just a friend.

If a person say, "She/He is 내 여자 친구(my girl friend)/ 내 남자 친구(my boy friend), then 여자친구/남자친구 means their "lovers".


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## yasemin

In Turkish, we don't have genders and "*arkadaş*" means friend. Only when you specify the sex of the friend, it means boy/girl friend, so lover: *erkek / kız arkadaş*, respectively. 

Of course this usage may pass in a context kind of "Last night I went out with the girls", so with your friend girls, as well. Because, as I said in Turkish we don't have gender and sometimes it is necessary to define the sex specifically. If you use also possessive, it is undoubtedly your lover, though: erkek / kız arkadaş*ım* (my boy / girlfriend)

I think in every language you can be sarcastic saying friend to your lover..


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## Thomas1

In Polish if a man or a girl says _moja dziewczyna/mój chłopak_ respectively it will always mean _my_ _girlfriend/boyfriend (partner)_. If you want to tell about your frind we'd use:
_mój kolega/przyjciel_ -- my boyfriend
_moja koleżanka/przyjaciółka_ -- my girlfriend


Tom


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## Outsider

yasemin said:


> I think in every language you can be sarcastic saying friend to your lover..


I agree.


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## Abbassupreme

Persian, oddly enough (at least in pure Persian), uses a word for "friend" that could _also_ be used to mean "lover/beloved"= dust or doost. However, the word in and of itself is non-gender specific, as is all the rest of the Persian language (aside, of course, for words such as mother, father, boy, girl, man, woman, etc.) The Arabic loanword "refiq", however, is used solely to mean "friend", with no romantic connotations.

But, if one were to want to say "boyfriend" or "girlfriend", one would make a point to specify the gender to clarify the meaning of just what kind of a "friend" of theirs this is.
Boyfriend= Dust pesar
Girlfriend= Dust dokhtar


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## evin

in catalan
boyfriend -- chicot
girlfrend -- chicota
in spanish
boyfriend -- novio
girlfriend -- novia


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## Mutichou

In French, "girlfriend" is "_petite amie_" and "boyfriend" is "_petit ami_."
Both literally mean "little friend."
We also can use "_copain_" (or "_copine_") instead of "_petit(e) ami(e)_," these words are a more colloquial way to say "friend" and are sometimes used alone to mean "boy/girlfriend."


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## Abbassupreme

evin said:


> in catalan
> boyfriend -- chicot
> girlfrend -- chicota
> in spanish
> boyfriend -- novio
> girlfriend -- novia


 
However, if one were to refer to one's friend who's a girl/boy platonically, one would write amiga or amigo, respectively.


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## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian, you use *venn* (friend, both genders) and *venninne* (female friend) for platonic friends.
You use the word *kjæreste* (lit. 'dearest') for boyfriend/girlfriend.


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## mcibor

Thomas1 said:


> In Polish if a man or a girl says _moja dziewczyna/mój chłopak_ respectively it will always mean _my_ _girlfriend/boyfriend (partner)_. If you want to tell about your friend we'd use:
> _mój kolega/przyjaciel_ -- my boyfriend
> _moja koleżanka/przyjaciółka_ -- my girlfriend
> 
> 
> Tom



I must correct Tom, the latter two (kolega / przyjaciel) mean only friend, never something else.
Mój chłopak / moja dziewczyna mean my guy / my girl
Michael


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## panjabigator

Abbassupreme said:


> Persian, oddly enough (at least in pure Persian), uses a word for "friend" that could _also_ be used to mean "lover/beloved"= dust or doost. However, the word in and of itself is non-gender specific, as is all the rest of the Persian language (aside, of course, for words such as mother, father, boy, girl, man, woman, etc.) The Arabic loanword "refiq", however, is used solely to mean "friend", with no romantic connotations.
> 
> But, if one were to want to say "boyfriend" or "girlfriend", one would make a point to specify the gender to clarify the meaning of just what kind of a "friend" of theirs this is.
> Boyfriend= Dust pesar
> Girlfriend= Dust dokhtar



The concept of girlfriend/boyfriend is completely foreign in South Asia, but there are some words which mean lover, though I'd never introduce my girlfriend with one of these...

Male/female:
Sajan, aashiq, balma, yaar, dholna (panjabi), mehboob, pyar, 


We have the word /refiq/ also, and in context with the Urdu ghazal, it refers to your confidant and/or close friend.  I don't know if it's used in spoken language (I've never heard or used it).  I guess that's one reason why the baboon was named Rafiiqii in The Lion King!


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## doman

In Vietnamese isn't gender in every nound. 
*"Bạn"* is friend, 
*"bạn trai"* is boy-friend, 
*"bạn gái"* is girl-friend, 
*"người yêu"* is lover exactly.
But in present, young people they could call their lovers whatever they wanted. They called theirs girl friend/boy friend/darling/my debt/honey/...ect. 
Very prevalently nowaday for lover: *thằng chồng*/hubby boy, *con vợ*/wife girl    
So funny !


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## Abbassupreme

panjabigator said:


> The concept of girlfriend/boyfriend is completely foreign in South Asia, but there are some words which mean lover, though I'd never introduce my girlfriend with one of these...
> 
> Male/female:
> Sajan, aashiq, balma, yaar, dholna (panjabi), mehboob, pyar,
> 
> 
> We have the word /refiq/ also, and in context with the Urdu ghazal, it refers to your confidant and/or close friend.  I don't know if it's used in spoken language (I've never heard or used it).  I guess that's one reason why the baboon was named Rafiiqii in The Lion King!



Yaar and mahboob (mahbub is how I like to write it) both mean lover, but mahboob is more accurately translated as "beloved".  I've NEVER heard EITHER of these being used in the spoken form, however.  I think they're restricted to written Persian.  My knowledge of literary Persian isn't great enough for me to recognize any of the other words, however.


Aashiq is the word used to literally describe one's _lover_, ma'shuq being translated as "beloved", and 'eshq being translated to romantic love.  It is used in the spoken form in the place of "dust" to signify that this is a _romantic_ relationship rather than merely a platonic one.


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## panjabigator

^I agree.  Yaar means friend for us, but it can be interpreted to be a lover.  Beloved is exactly the word I intended to write for mahbub, and no, I have never heard either (with the exception of yaar as a friend) in spoken language.  But my exposure to the language is limited to family and friends.

Ashiq, mashuq, and ishq are the same for us too.  They are really too intense of words for me to even comprehend.


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## Aurin

It´s not so clear in German. If you say "ein Freund/ eine Freundin", it is clear that you aren´t speaking of your lover.
But saying "mein Freund/meine Freundin" it can mean both.
If you want to say it clear as a lover you can add "fest"(steady):
mein fester Freund/meine feste Freundin.
If you want express clear (non-lover) friend or you use the above mentioned a/an friend or you can say:
mein bester Freund/ meine beste Freundin (my best friend).
When I speak of my friend (no lover) I say: mein/e Freund/in because ein/e Freund/in sounds too impersonal for me, it sounds more as acquaintance (Bekannte/r in German).


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## cyanista

^Many people say ein Freund/eine Freundin von mir (a friend of mine). In this way it's clear they are not talking about their girlfriend/boyfriend and it's not all too impersonal.


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## tanzhang

In Tagalog:

lalaking kaibigan (kaibigan na lalake) a friend that is a guy
babaeng kaibigan ( kaibigan na babae) a friend that is a girl
babae - woman, girl
lalake - guy, man
kaibigan - friend

Shota - boyfriend, girlfriend...


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## Lugubert

panjabigator said:


> Yaar means friend for us, but it can be interpreted to be a lover.


That was a surprise to me. I thought that _yaar_ was only like English _pal_ very informally between close male friends.

In Hindi conversation class, my teacher (male, half my age) asked if I had a _dost_. I didn't react to the number of the noun, so knowing from dictionary that it meant 'friend', I told him that I had several. He was slightly shocked, because to him, it meant intimate friend...


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## Whodunit

AGATHA2 said:


> Thats complicated in german. If you say "ein Freund, eine Freundin" it means "just a friend"
> If you say "mein Freund, meine Freundin" it means your lover


 
Nevertheless, we should point out that it always depends on who says it:

If a male is speaking, saying "mein Freund," there are usually no romantic implications. If a female calls someone "meine Freundin," I don't tink of "girlfriend" either.

It'll get complicated if you want to introduce your friend which is of the other sex:

male: Hallo, das ist eine gute Freundin von mir. (this is a good fermale friend of mine)
female: Hallo, das ist ein guter Freund von mir. (this is a good male friend of mine)


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## Aurin

^And what´s about gays and lesbians? A gay can present his lover with "mein Freund" and a lesbian her lover with "meine Freundin".


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## cheshire

Whodunit said:


> It'll get complicated if you want to introduce your friend which is of the other sex:
> 
> male: Hallo, das ist _eine gute Freundin von mir_. (this is a good fermale friend of mine)
> female: Hallo, das ist _ein guter Freund von mir._ (this is a good male friend of mine)


Which did you mean, romantic or non-romantic?


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## daoxunchang

cheshire said:


> I think "one's girl/boy frineds" means "one's lovers" in English, Germany, and Chinese Beijin-hua. Is it really so? What about other languages?


I don't think it's only in Beijing-hua that we mean lovers by girlfriend or boyfriend. It means universally so now. But of course you can mean just friends with certain context given.


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## Whodunit

Aurin said:


> And what´s about gays and lesbians? A gay can present his lover with "mein Freund" and a lesbian her lover with "meine Freundin".



Either it is clear by certain circumstances or he/she would have to add that they are together. "Das ist mein Freund" said by a man has no sexual connotation to my ears.


cheshire said:


> Which did you mean, romantic or non-romantic?


non-romantic


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## Bienvenidos

*Persian (A girl's friend as in her girlfriend, meaning shopping buddy, etc.)

Xwârxonda

*You can see the word *xwâr *which means *sister *as the stem of the word. 

It's a very common term and it means close friend, as the word suggests, like a sister.

Only uses when a girl talks about one of her friends.

The problem is that in Persian, the word for "boyfriend/girlfriend" is the same as it is for "friend" so a lot of elaboration and contextual clues need to be used before making an assumption about who is dating who. That term is *rafik.


*


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## Whodunit

Bienvenidos said:


> *Persian (A girl's friend as in her girlfriend, meaning shopping buddy, etc.)*
> 
> *Xwârxonda*
> 
> You can see the word *xwâr *which means *sister *as the stem of the word.


 
How are the "x" pronounced in "xwârxonda?" Like "sh" in English? Do you mind writing it in Arabic letters?


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## Abbassupreme

Bienvenidos said:


> *Persian (A girl's friend as in her girlfriend, meaning shopping buddy, etc.)*
> 
> *Xwârxonda*
> 
> You can see the word *xwâr *which means *sister *as the stem of the word.
> 
> It's a very common term and it means close friend, as the word suggests, like a sister.
> 
> Only uses when a girl talks about one of her friends.
> 
> The problem is that in Persian, the word for "boyfriend/girlfriend" is the same as it is for "friend" so a lot of elaboration and contextual clues need to be used before making an assumption about who is dating who. That term is *rafik.*


Interesting.  Khâhar-khândeh means step-sister in Tehrani Persian. [off-topic comment removed]


Whodunit said:


> How are the "x" pronounced in "xwârxonda?" Like "sh" in English? Do you mind writing it in Arabic letters?



x=kh, as in khabar/xabar (news).  To be crude about it, a foreigner can make the sound, and DOES make a very close sound, when they're coughing up a loogie/sputum.  The whole "khwwwwwwwuk!" sound, I mean.  The sound's just not that long.  I think it would be safe to say that, in the Slavic and in the central asian languages, the transliteration of "x" will never mean "ks" and will likely be "kh".


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## apmoy70

In Greek one's boyfriend or girlfriend is either (i) *«φίλος, -λη»* [ˈfilos] (masc.), [ˈfili] (fem.), or, (ii) *«γκόμενος, -μενα»* [ˈgomenos] (masc.), [ˈgomena] (fem.); check here for their etymology.

Lover on the other hand, is described by the deverbatives *«εραστής»* [eɾaˈstis] (masc.), *«ερωμένη»* [eɾoˈmeni] (fem.) < Classical deponent v. *«ἔραμαι» éramai̯* --> _to desire, love_ which also produced the masc. noun *«ἔρως» érōs* --> _romantic/carnal love/desire, (myth.) Cupid_ (of unknown etymology, possibly Pre-Greek).


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