忘年交

wàngniánjiāo

phrase #77,215

Meanings

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

Characters

Examples

HSK 4

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.

HSK 6

两人相差三十岁，却结成了忘年交。

Liǎng rén xiāngchà sānshí suì, què jiéchéng le wàngniánjiāo.

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

HSK 7-9

在网上结识忘年交并不稀奇。

Zài wǎngshàng jiéshí wàngniánjiāo bìngbù 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