📖 Meaning
This idiom describes a deep and long-standing friendship between two families, so intimate that they treat each other like members of one family. It typically refers to a bond cultivated over generations or many years of close association. The term emphasizes mutual trust and familiarity that goes beyond ordinary acquaintance.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces back to the Yuan dynasty playwright Qin Jianfu and his work 'Dongtang Lao' (The Old Man of the Eastern Hall), specifically the fourth act. In the play, a character refers to the western neighbor Zhao Guoqi—the father of the so-called Yangzhou slave—as having shared a thirty-year family friendship with the old narrator. The phrase underscores a deeply rooted, decades-long bond between two households. Over time it came to denote any multi-generational or exceptionally close relationship between families.
💡 Example Usage
两家多年比邻而居，结为通家之好。
The two families lived as neighbors for many years and formed a family-like friendship.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 通家之好
- Pinyin: tōng jiā zhī hǎo
- Literal Translation: through, family, of, friendship
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4