syu1 jau2書友书友
Jyutpingsyu1 jau2
Yalesyū yáu
Definition
A school friend or classmate.
colloquialpeopleschool
How it's used
Refers specifically to friends made during one's time at school, carrying a sense of nostalgia for those shared academic years. While it literally translates to book friend, it is rarely used to describe people who just read books together. It is a warm, informal term that implies a bond formed through the daily routine of attending classes.
Measure word
go3個goExamples
He is a school friend of mine from secondary school.
Do you still keep in touch with your old school friends?
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 同學, which is a neutral term for a classmate currently in the same class. 書友 implies a personal friendship that often persists long after the school days have ended.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
