friend

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A person you know well and like, and who is not a family member.

   She has been my best friend since we were children.

2. 2
   noun

   Someone who helps or supports you.

   In hard times he proved to be a true friend.

3. 3
   noun

   A person you are slightly or indirectly acquainted with.

   He is more of an online friend than someone I really know.

Common collocations

• best friend Adjective + noun
• old friend Adjective + noun
• make a friend Verb + noun
• meet a friend Verb + noun
• visit a friend Verb + noun
• close friend Adjective + noun
• lose a friend Verb + noun
• mutual friend Adjective + noun

From Middle English freend, frend, frende, freynde, friend, frind, frond, frund, vrend, vryend, from Old English frēond, frīond (“friend”, literally “loving [one], lover”), from Proto-West Germanic *friund, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndz (“friend, loved one”), from Proto-Indo-European *preyH- (“to please; to love”), roughly equivalent to free + -nd. See also Friday. Cognates Cognate with Scots freend (“friend”), Yola friend, vriene (“friend”), North Frisian frinj, frün (“friend”), Saterland Frisian Fjund, Früünd (“friend”), West Frisian freon, freondinne (“friend”), Cimbrian bròint, vròint (“fr…

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