(péng): friend

(péng) is a Chinese character meaning “friend.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #882 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, two people 月 walking together. Its radical form (moon) appears in many related characters such as (yuè, moon, month), (yǒu, to have), (, clothes, serve).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. friend

Etymology & Origin

ideographicTwo people 月 walking together

Decomposition: ⿰月月 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounpéng youfriend1
nounnǚ péng yougirlfriend1
nounnán péng youboyfriend1
nounxiǎo péng yǒuchild1
qīn péng hǎo yǒufriends and family5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
lǎo péng youold friend
jiāo péng youto make friends
hú péng gǒu yǒua pack of rogues (idiom)
gòu péng you(coll.) to be a true friend
qīn péngrelatives and friends
péng kèpunk (music style) (loanword)
gāo péng mǎn zuòsurrounded by distinguished friends (idiom)
duō gè péng yǒu duō tiáo lùthe more friends you have, the more options you have in life (idiom)
sān péng sì yǒufriends
hǎo péng yougood friend
zài jiā kào fù mǔ , chū wài kào péng youone depends on one's parents when at home, and on one's friends when away from home (idiom)
tán péng youto be dating sb
zài jiā kào fù mǔ , chū mén kào péng youone depends on one's parents when at home, and on one's friends when away from home (idiom)
hū péng yǐn lèito call up all one's associates
péng you qī bù kě qīyou should not covet your friend's wife (idiom)
34
Total compounds
21
As first character
12
As last character
68
As middle character

appears in 34 compound words: 21 as the first character, 12 as the last, and 68 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yǒu
0.848420,424 co-occurrences
hǎo
0.50545,672 co-occurrences
chǔn
0.4411,182 co-occurrences
nán
0.39020,947 co-occurrences
0.3781,296 co-occurrences
de
0.373205,422 co-occurrences
0.36927,019 co-occurrences
qīn
0.3595,550 co-occurrences
a
0.356798 co-occurrences
寿shòu
0.3541,812 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

bīn péng mǎn zuòHSK 4+

guests filled all the seats (idiom); a house full of distinguished visitors

phrase
gāopéngmǎnzuòHSK 4+

to have a large number of friends and guests

phrase
hū péng yǐn bànHSK 5+

to gather one's friends; to band together

phrase
hū péng yǐn lèiHSK 5+

to call up all one's associates; rent-a-crowd

phrase
húpénggǒuyǒuHSK 7+

disreputable friends; evil associates; gang of scoundrels

phrase
jiǔròu péngyouHSK 2+

fair-weather friend (one who is friendly only to his own advantage)

noun
liáng péng yì yǒuHSK 5+

virtuous companions and worthy friends

phrase
péngbǐwéijiānHSK 7+

to conspire; to gang up; to form a faction for evil purposes

phrase
qīnpénghǎoyǒuHSK 4+

friends and relatives; kith and kin

noun
sān péng sì yǒuHSK 1+

friends; cronies

phrase
shuòdàwúpéngHSK 4+

incomparably enormous

phrase
zhūpénggǒuyǒuHSK 5+

disreputable friends

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

友之间应该互相帮助,有困难时要伸出援手。

Péngyou zhījiān yīnggāi hùxiāng bāngzhù, yǒu kùnnan shí yào shēnchū yuánshǒu.

Friends should help each other and lend a hand when in difficulty.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

来酒吧找友...不消费遭店家赶出门 女在门口狂呛...

lái jiǔ ba zhǎo péng yǒu . . . bù xiāo fèi zāo diàn jiā gǎn chū mén nǚ zài mén kǒu kuáng qiàng . . .

Come to the bar to find a friend... I was kicked out of the store if I didn't consume, and the woman choked at the door...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

与父母做友,代际相处的新范式

yǔ fù mǔ zuò péng yǒu , dài jì xiāng chǔ de xīn fàn shì

Be friends with your parents, a new paradigm of intergenerational relationships

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

友拜年:祝爷爷奶奶早生贵子!

xiǎo péng yǒu bài nián : zhù yé yé nǎi nǎi zǎo shēng guì zǐ !

New Year's greetings for children: I wish grandparents a baby soon!

百度新闻Feb 2026

和首都女铁骑,做一天

hé shǒu dū nǚ tiě qí , zuò yī tiān péng yǒu

I'll be friends for a day with the Capital Rangers.

Tatoeba

他是我的友。你们认识吗?

Tā shì wǒ de péngyou. nǐmen rènshi ma?

He's my friend. Do you know him?

Tatoeba

你的友近来在忙些什么?

Nǐ de péngyou jìnlái zài máng xiē shénme?

What has your friend been doing recently?

Tatoeba

你也邀请你的友了吗?

Nǐ yě yāoqǐng nǐ de péngyou le ma?

You've invited your friends as well?

Tatoeba

我们就不能只做友吗?

Wǒmen jiù bù néng zhǐ zuò péngyou ma?

Can't we just be friends?

Tatoeba

你最有趣的友是谁?

Nǐ zuì yǒuqù de péngyou shì shéi?

Who's your most interesting friend?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced péng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 朋 (péng) mean in Chinese?
朋 (péng) primarily means "friend." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #882 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 朋 have?
朋 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 朋?
The radical associated with 朋 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are the components of 朋?
朋 is composed of: 月 (structural), 月 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰月月 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 朋?
Common words with 朋 include: 朋友 (péng you, "friend"); 女朋友 (nǚ péng you, "girlfriend"); 男朋友 (nán péng you, "boyfriend"); 老朋友 (lǎo péng you, "old friend"); 小朋友 (xiǎo péng yǒu, "child"). There are over 34 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 朋 (péng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation péng: 抨 (attack), 烹 (to boil), 棚 (shed), 蓬 (fluffy), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 朋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 朋 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.