好友
hǎoyǒu · HSK 4
great friend
👥 好友 = 好 (good) + 友 (friend) = good friend / close pal
好 means good and 友 means friend, so 好友 literally stacks to good-friend — a step up from a casual 朋友. Use it for close pals, chums, or cronies rather than mere acquaintances.
好 — woman 女 + child 子
好 is an associative compound showing a woman 女 beside a child 子, depicting a mother with her baby. From this image of maternal affection it came to mean 'good, fine, pleasing.' The reading hǎo means 'good'; read hào it means 'to like.'