friend with benefits

English

Etymology

Possibly first used by Alanis Morissette for her 1995 song “Head over Feet”, although in the original context it seems to refer to a committed rather than a casual relationship.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

friend with benefits (plural friends with benefits)

1. (idiomatic, slang, non-vulgar) A friend with whom one has a casual sexual relationship.

   Synonyms: fuck buddy; see also Thesaurus:casual sexual partner

   • 2003, Alexander Hart, Time in Question:

     “I’m just saying that usually when you have a friend who’s a girl, it’s not just that she’s your friend. Either you’ve known her a long time, or she’s a friend with benefits.”

   • 2003, William Marsiglio, “Making Males Mindful of Their Sexual and Procreative Identities: Using Self-Narratives in Field Settings”, in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, volume 35, number 5:

     Gender norms influence how young men orient themselves to sexual partners and girlfriends, and men’s procreative consciousness is sometimes affected by how they define a potential or actual sex partner (e.g., casual or serious girlfriend, “friend with benefits”, hookup).

   • 2004, Cynthia Henry, Discovering Normal:

     “Can I be so bold as to ask if I can be a friend with benefits?”

   • 2005, Jennifer Klein, University of Pennsylvania:

     The College Relationship is the hook up that turns into a “a person to hang out with,” more or less, a friend with benefits. This is a person whose company you sincerely enjoy, and you choose to spend extra time both hanging out and hooking up with, but there is no spoken commitment involved.

Related terms

• friendship with benefits

Descendants

• → Canadian French: ami avec bénéfices (calque)

Translations

friend with whom one has a casual sexual relationship

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: amic amb drets m, amiga amb drets f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 炮友 (zh) (pàoyǒu), 性夥伴 / 性伙伴 (zh) (xìnghuǒbàn), 性火伴 (xìnghuǒbàn), 性伴侶 / 性伴侣 (zh) (xìngbànlǚ)

• Danish: bolleven c
• Finnish: seksikaveri
• French: sex friend (fr) m, ami avec bénéfices m, amie avec bénéfices f
• Georgian: მეგობარი უპირატესობებით (megobari uṗiraṭesobebit)
• German: Freund mit gewissen Vorzügen m, Freundin mit gewissen Vorzügen f, Sexfreund m, Sexfreundin f
• Hebrew: יָזִיז (he) m (yazíz), יְזִיזָה f (yezíza)
• Hungarian: szexhaver, szexbarát
• Icelandic: bólfélagi (is) m
• Indonesian: teman tapi mesra
• Italian: amico di letto m, amica di letto f
• Japanese: セックスフレンド (ja) (sekkusu furendo), セフレ (ja) (sefure)
• Korean: 섹스파트너 (sekseupateuneo), 섹파 (sekpa)
• Norwegian: pulevenn m, knullekompis m
• Polish: przyjaciel z bonusem m, przyjaciel z bonusami m, przyjaciółka z bonusem f, przyjaciółka z bonusami f
• Portuguese: amigo colorido m, ficante m or f (Brazil), peguete (pt) m or f (Brazil), amiga colorida f
• Romanian: prieten cu beneficii m, prietenă cu beneficii f
• Russian: партнёр по се́ксу m (partnjór po séksu), партнёрша по се́ксу m (partnjórša po séksu), се́кс по дру́жбе f (séks po drúžbe)
• Spanish: amigo con ventajas m, amiga con ventajas f, amigo con derechos (es) m, amiga con derechos f, amigovio (es) m, amigovia f, amigo con derecho a roce m, amiga con derecho a roce f, follamigo (es) m, follamigo (es) m, follamiga f
• Swedish: idkarvän c
• Ukrainian: друг з привілеями m (druh z pryvilejamy), подруга з привілеями f (podruha z pryvilejamy)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• romantic friendship

Further reading

• friends with benefits on Wikipedia.Wikipedia