Meaning of 基友?

[tooironic]

I originally understood the slang 基友 meant "gay friends" but the other day a friend of mine posted a meme about what is considered a 基友 and it turns out it also means "close friend" or "good buddy", is that true? What does this term actually mean?

[skylee]

It means people who are gay. You can say a gay person you don't personally know is a 基友.

I don't think it means close friend or good buddy.

[gato]

People in the mainland use it to jokingly refer to guys who are really close.

[Angelina]

Gato is right.

On the other hand, 同志 is truly ambiguous, both uses ('comrade' and 'gay') are widespread.

[Demonic_Duck]

As I understand, it's a bit like "bromance".

[Mindmaxd]

Here are the meanings

基友，

1.“搞基的朋友”对于男同性恋的另一种称呼。

2..现在网络中常用来称呼好友。 　　

3.关系特别好的同性朋友。 　　

4.同“基佬”不同。“基友”目前是广泛运用于中国ACG界的网络用语。指因生活压力大，没钱没女朋友，有了女朋友，还可能会因为ACG的兴趣而产生矛盾。所以“不如大家一起搞基吧！”的潮流就诞生了。实际上，ACG里相互称“基友”的宅男，都并不是同性恋。调侃意味颇重。 　　

5..基友是一起玩的好男人。 　

[Shirley_Chen]

I agree with Gato. But I think it can be more specific which means that "People in the mainland use it to jokingly refer to MEN and BOYS who are really close.”

[陳德聰]

People here routinely refer to close friends, regardless of gender, as their (好)基友.

My female friends also refer to their close female friends as (好)基友. Though it does get pretty ambiguous when they refer to their close guy friends as (好)基友. Some people might raise their eyebrows a bit at that, but I'm pretty sure this has become a general term for "close friend".

My boyfriend, when referring to me, in order to not let his classmate know that we were together as a couple when she asked why we were living together, referred to me as 只是个好基友. I thought it was strange, since I thought for sure that meant she would infer that we were a gay couple, but still to this day she remains unaware.

[LearneЯ]

http://jiyou.annqq.com/tid-2033/ : good read and also explains a few more uses, especially in online gaming!

I am also curious about the origin since it perhaps came from Cantonese (or other southern dialect, but Cantonese is more plausible) pronunciation of 'gei' for 基. I was also surprised to see 的士 as loanword for taxi in several dictionaries without mentioning the dialectical usage. Is it also commonly used in Mandarin?

[roddy]

Not sure, but the associated 的哥 is pretty common. Oh, and 打的.

[HusbandOfWuhan]

It can mean both.

[Kelby]

It means "good buddies" or something of that sort, but is used jokingly to poke fun at good male friends as it carries vaguely homosexual undertones. E.g., I have a good friend who works at a local bar, and because every time I see him he gives me a brotherly hug my girlfriend calls us 好基友.

[roddy]

Some further reading from Language Log which will be of interest.

[gato]

Is that the bar next to Hotel G in Beijing?

http://www.hotel-g.com/

[szcube]

At first,基友refers to gay friend...But it's commonly used to describe very close friend.I will say my best female friend is my 基友..basically基友 can mean girls or boys ,is not about sex. hope that it will help,my 基友们