交朋友
jiāo péng you · HSK 2
to make friends
🤝 交 = exchange + 朋友 = friends → exchange-friends = make friends
交 means to hand over or exchange; 朋友 is the standard word for friend (朋 = two moons / pair, 友 = two hands joined). So 交朋友 literally reads exchange-friends, the verb-object pattern Mandarin uses for befriending someone.
交 — top 亠 + 父-like crossed legs
Originally a pictograph of a person standing with legs crossed, showing the idea of crossing or intersecting. From this concrete image, the meaning extended to abstract senses like 'exchange,' 'interact,' and 'hand over.' Modern uses such as 交流 (exchange) and 交通 (traffic) all trace back to this core notion of crossing.