忘年交

wàngniánjiāo

idiom #77,215

Meanings

1 age-forgetting friendship
2 a close friendship between people of very different ages
3 generational-gap friendship

Characters

Examples

他和这位老教授是忘年交。

Tā hé zhè wèi lǎo jiàoshòu shì wàngniánjiāo.

He and the old professor are close friends across the generation gap.

两人相差三十岁，却结成了忘年交。

Liǎng rén xiāng chà sānshí suì, què jiéchéngle wàngniánjiāo.

There are thirty years between them, yet they became fast friends.

在网上结识忘年交并不稀奇。

Zài wǎngshàng jiéshí wàngniánjiāo bìng bù xīqí.

Meeting friends from different generations online isn't unusual anymore.

Tips

history

From 《南史·何逊传》: the poet He Xun, a prodigy at eight, was 'forgotten of age' (忘年) in friendship by the elder statesman Fan Yun. The phrase still carries its original warm tone — mutual respect that pays no attention to years.

Stroke Order

忘 wàng

年 nián

交 jiāo