朋

péng
noun #9,779

Meanings

  1. 1 friend; companion

Examples

HSK 1
Tā de péngyou hěnduō.
He has many friends.
HSK 3
Tā shì wǒ zuìhǎo de péngyou.
She is my best friend.

Tips

usage
朋 is almost never used alone in modern Chinese. It appears in 朋友 (friend), which is one of the most common words in Chinese.
history
朋 originally depicted two strings of cowrie shells (ancient currency), symbolizing people bound together by mutual exchange.

Components

radical
月 yuè
left half (originally a string of cowries)
Left half - visually identical to 月 moon, but historically one of two strings of cowrie shells once used as currency. Two such strings hung side by side meant a matched pair, the original picture for 'companion, friend.' Later assigned the moon radical for indexing, which is why it sits beside 期 and 望.
semantic
月 yuè
right half (paired string of cowries)
Right half - the second cowrie-string, mirrored against its partner. The doubling is the whole point: a pair makes the picture. From two strings of equal worth came the meaning of 'paired companion, friend of equal standing,' still alive in modern 朋友 friend. A textbook compound ideograph relying entirely on reduplication.

Stroke Order

朋 péng