Chinese

男朋友

/nän³⁵ pʰɤŋ³⁵ joʊ̯³/

boyfriend (Classifier: 個／个 m c)

Etymology graph

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Most likely a calque of English boyfriend.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

calqueEnglishboyfriend “A male partner in an unmarried romantic relationship.”
- partEnglishboy “A male child.”
  - inheritedMiddle Englishboye
  - derivedRussianма́льчик “boy”
- suffixEnglish-ie “Forming diminutive or affectionate forms of nouns or names.”
  - derivedEnglish-y “Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”, either “involving…”
  - derivedEnglishselfie “A photographic self-portrait, especially one taken manually (not using a timer, tripod etc.) with a…”
- partEnglishfriend “A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys a…”
  - inheritedMiddle Englishfrend
characterChinese男 “man; (only of human in Standard Chinese) male”
- ideaChinese田 “farmland (Classifier: 塊／块 m c)”
- ideaChinese力 “physical strength; physical power; energy”
characterChinese朋 “unit of shell money; various theories exist about the exact amount”
characterChinese友 “friend; companion”
- soundChinese又 “again; once more”

Lineage

calqueEnglishboyfriend “A male partner in an unmarried romantic relationship.”
- partEnglishboy “A male child.”
  - inheritedMiddle Englishboye
  - derivedRussianма́льчик “boy”
- suffixEnglish-ie “Forming diminutive or affectionate forms of nouns or names.”
  - derivedEnglish-y “Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”, either “involving…”
  - derivedEnglishselfie “A photographic self-portrait, especially one taken manually (not using a timer, tripod etc.) with a…”
- partEnglishfriend “A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys a…”
  - inheritedMiddle Englishfrend
characterChinese男 “man; (only of human in Standard Chinese) male”
- ideaChinese田 “farmland (Classifier: 塊／块 m c)”
- ideaChinese力 “physical strength; physical power; energy”
characterChinese朋 “unit of shell money; various theories exist about the exact amount”
characterChinese友 “friend; companion”
- soundChinese又 “again; once more”