Friend in Japanese is 友達, said tomodachi, and the character carrying the meaning is 友 (tomo). Four strokes, and it is a picture of two hands. The on’yomi is ユウ (yuu). Written in hiragana 友 is とも, and 友達 is ともだち.
Friend in Japanese
Friend in Japanese is 友達 (tomodachi). That is the word people actually say, and it is the one to learn first. 達 was originally a pluralising suffix, which is why tomodachi can mean one friend or several, and Japanese does not mind the ambiguity.
The single character 友 (tomo) does mean friend and it does stand alone, but it reads as literary rather than conversational. You will meet it in writing, in song lyrics, and in set phrases, not in a sentence about who you are meeting for lunch.
Then there are the registers above and below. 友人 (yuujin) is a friend in formal or written speech, the word you use in a report or when speaking carefully. 親友 (shin’yuu) is a close friend, a best friend, with 親 meaning intimate. And 悪友 (akuyuu) is a bad influence, said with affection more often than not.
The Kanji for Friend: 友
- Character: 友
- On’yomi: ユウ (yuu), and ウ (u) in older go-on readings
- Kun’yomi: とも (tomo)
- Stroke count: 4
- General meaning: friend, companion, comrade
- Radical: 又 (right hand), Kangxi radical 29
Japanese Symbol for Friend
友 is one of the few characters where the origin story is both simple and genuinely moving, and where it survives intact in the modern shape.
The character is built from 又 twice. 又 is a right hand, drawn from the wrist with the fingers extended, and it is Kangxi radical 29. In the oldest forms of 友, two of these hands appear together, reaching the same way. The Shuowen Jiezi, the second-century character dictionary, glosses it exactly like that: two hands, therefore friendship.
Look at the modern character and you can still find them. The horizontal and the long left-falling sweep at the top are one hand, worn down; the 又 at the lower right is the other, still recognisable. Two hands side by side, doing the same thing.
That is a genuinely different image from the one behind most relationship words. It is not two people facing each other, and it is not an embrace. It is two hands pointed the same direction, which reads as working alongside someone rather than gazing at them. For a culture that puts as much weight on shared effort as Japan does, the picture fits.
How to Write 友 in Japanese
Four strokes, and the order matters more than the small count suggests.
Begin with the short horizontal at the top. Then the long stroke that sweeps from upper right down to lower left, crossing it and running well past. These two form the upper hand, and the sweep should be generous, because it sets the character’s whole width.
Then 又 in two strokes at the lower right. First the stroke that goes right and turns down and to the left, then the long diagonal that runs down and out to the right, finishing with a lift.
The two long diagonals, one going left and one going right, are what give 友 its balance. If either is cut short, the character collapses inward. The most common error is writing the top horizontal too long, which leaves the left sweep nowhere to go.
How to Say Friend in Japanese
Tomodachi is four even beats: “toh-moh-dah-chee.” Every vowel is short, the ch is as in “cheese,” and nothing takes stress. Tomo alone is two beats, “toh-moh.” Yuujin is “yoo-jin” with the first vowel held long.
Real sentences:
- 友達に会います。(Tomodachi ni aimasu.) I am meeting a friend.
- 彼は私の親友です。(Kare wa watashi no shin’yuu desu.) He is my best friend.
- 友達になりましょう。(Tomodachi ni narimashou.) Let us be friends.
- 学生時代の友人です。(Gakusei jidai no yuujin desu.) He is a friend from my student days.
- 友情は大切です。(Yuujou wa taisetsu desu.) Friendship is important.
One warning. 友達 does not stretch as far as the English word friend. Calling a colleague or an acquaintance tomodachi claims a closeness that may not exist yet, and Japanese speakers are more careful with it than English speakers are. 知り合い (shiriai), an acquaintance, covers the middle ground.
Words and Compounds With 友
- 友達 (tomodachi): friend, the everyday word.
- 友人 (yuujin): friend, formal and written.
- 親友 (shin’yuu): a close or best friend.
- 友情 (yuujou): friendship, the bond itself.
- 友好 (yuukou): friendship in the diplomatic sense, as between countries or cities.
- 戦友 (senyuu): a comrade in arms, a war buddy.
- 級友 (kyuuyuu): a classmate.
- 旧友 (kyuuyuu): an old friend. A homophone of the above, distinguished in writing only.
- 学友 (gakuyuu): a school friend.
- 悪友 (akuyuu): a bad influence, said with more warmth than the translation suggests.
The pattern is easy once you see it: a character describing the setting, then 友. Where you met determines what you call them, which is a very Japanese way to organise a social world.
Friend in Japanese Culture
Japanese friendship is organised more explicitly than English-speaking friendship, and the vocabulary shows it. Relationships come with a position attached. Senpai and kouhai mark who arrived first at a school or workplace, and that ordering persists for decades. A friendship between exact equals, 同期 (douki), those who joined in the same year, is its own recognised category.
What holds it together is omoiyari, the practice of reading what another person needs before they say it and acting on it quietly. It is the closest thing Japanese has to a core social virtue, and it operates on friends most of all. Friendship is demonstrated by noticing, not by declaring.
Beneath that sits wa, harmony, the value that asks people to keep the group intact even at some cost to themselves. It is why direct confrontation between friends is rarer, why disagreement gets softened, and why an outsider can misread a Japanese friendship as cool when it is simply not performed out loud.
And there is ichigo ichie, one time, one meeting, the tea ceremony idea that this particular gathering of these particular people will never happen again. It is a phrase about friendship as much as about tea, and it is the one Japanese offers where English would reach for something about lifelong bonds.
友 also appears in given names for both boys and girls, read Tomo and folded into names like Tomoko and Tomoya, where it lends exactly the meaning you would expect.
As a Tattoo
友 is a clean, safe, and slightly understated choice. Four strokes, an open shape, and an origin story worth telling: two hands, side by side.
Be clear on register. 友 alone reads as literary. It is not wrong, and Japanese readers will understand it immediately as friend, but the everyday word is 友達 and the emotionally warmer one is 友情 (yuujou), friendship as a bond. For matching tattoos between two people, 親友 (shin’yuu, best friend) says the thing most directly, and splitting a two-character word across two people is a common and workable idea.
Check the pairings. 悪友 (akuyuu) means bad influence and 戦友 (senyuu) means comrade in arms. Both are real words that a second character can accidentally produce, and neither is what a friendship tattoo usually intends.
On script: 友 is written identically in Japanese, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. It was never simplified, so there is no wrong regional form here at all. Only the reading changes, from tomo or yuu to yǒu in Mandarin.
Four strokes is about as forgiving as kanji gets, and 友 holds its shape at small sizes better than most. Wrist, ankle, ribs and behind the ear all work. The only thing to watch is that the two long diagonals keep their length, since a cramped stencil tends to shorten both and the character loses its openness.
Confirm with a native speaker before you ink. You can preview the character in vertical and horizontal layouts with the Japanese Tattoo Generator, and read the wider background in our guide to japanese tattoo meanings.
Related Kanji
FAQ
How do you say friend in Japanese?
You say tomodachi, written 友達. Four even beats, “toh-moh-dah-chee,” with no stress and no separate plural. In formal or written Japanese use 友人 (yuujin), and for a close friend 親友 (shin’yuu). The single character 友 is read tomo and sounds literary on its own.
What is the kanji for friend?
The kanji for friend is 友, four strokes. It is built from 又, a right hand and Kangxi radical 29, doubled: two hands reaching the same way. Its readings are とも (tomo) and ユウ (yuu). The everyday word for friend adds a second character, giving 友達 (tomodachi).
What is the Japanese symbol for friend?
友 is the written symbol, and it is one of the rare characters whose picture survives clearly. Two right hands sit side by side, pointed the same direction. The Shuowen Jiezi glosses it as two hands, therefore friendship, and the lower 又 in the modern character is still visibly a hand.
How do you write tomo in Japanese?
友 is the kanji and the standard written form, common in given names such as Tomoko and Tomoya. とも is hiragana and トモ is katakana, the latter used mostly in branding. For the ordinary noun you want 友達 (tomodachi). Our guide to hiragana vs katakana explains when each script fits.
Is 友 the same character in Chinese?
Yes, completely. 友 was never simplified, so it is written identically in Japanese, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. Only the pronunciation differs: tomo or yuu in Japanese, yǒu in Mandarin. The two-hands etymology is shared across all three writing traditions.
What is the difference between tomodachi, yuujin and shin’yuu?
友達 (tomodachi) is the everyday spoken word for a friend. 友人 (yuujin) is the same idea in formal or written register, used in reports and careful speech. 親友 (shin’yuu) means a close or best friend, with 親 marking intimacy. Japanese uses tomodachi more sparingly than English uses friend.