[New Word Dictionary] Framily (framily) - Friends Like Family

Framily is a word combining family and friend, referring to a 'friend like family.' In the late Joseon period, the Silhak scholar Park Ji-won even emphasized that a friend who shares your heart and mind is essentially a 'second self' (第二吾). Illustration by Oh Seong-su Photo

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Park Ji-won, a practical scholar of the late Joseon Dynasty, was known from his youth as the son of a prestigious Noron family for his outstanding writing skills. In 1770 (the 46th year of King Yeongjo’s reign), King Yeongjo, who took notice of Park Ji-won after he passed the preliminary civil service exam (sogwa) with the highest score, personally summoned him to the royal bedchamber. There, the king had the royal secretary recite Park’s exam answers and tapped the desk while appreciating his writing. Upon hearing this, politicians rushed to seek him out, but Park Ji-won, disillusioned by officials who prioritized faction and family background, threw in a blank paper for the second exam and gave up on the civil service exam. Afterward, he devoted himself to reading and writing novels, always surrounded by people. Although he was a nobleman, he mingled without formality even with illegitimate children and commoners. He once said, “If someone enlightens me well when I face difficulties, even if he is a pig farmer, he is my virtuous friend; if someone advises me righteously, even if he is a woodcutter, he is my good friend.” To his close friend Hong Dae-yong, whom he regarded like family, he even emphasized that a friend who shares one’s heart and will is a ‘second self’ (第二吾). Though he gave up the civil service exam, Park Ji-won never stopped his scholarly pursuits, and friends were both family and mirrors reflecting himself.

“Framily” is a word combining family and friend, referring to ‘friends like family.’ Park Ji-won had to pay a harsh price of severe poverty for giving up a guaranteed official career. Though he boasted that he sought friends with clear eyes instead of ‘honor and power like oil,’ when he ran out of rice and went hungry for a week, the only thing he could ask his friends for was not poetry but a plea to borrow money. Understanding his difficult situation, his friend Hong Dae-yong readily sent him two cows, five farming tools, twenty notebooks, and 200 nyang (Korean currency), saying, “Since you are now living in the mountains, you will have to buy farmland and farm it, so please use this to help with that. And even if you do rough fieldwork, your duty is to write books and pass them on to future generations. Please do not neglect that task.” Later, when Park Ji-won heard the news of the passing of his friend Hong Dae-yong, who cared for him more deeply than family, he completely stopped playing music they had enjoyed together and gave away all his musical instruments. Park Ji-won’s words, “If household items break, you can replace them with new ones; if clothes tear, you can sew them; if you lose a wife, you can marry twice or thrice, but the sorrow of losing a true friend is not like that,” express a friendship closer and more earnest than today’s concept of framily.

Example

A: How’s your schedule this weekend? How about some chicken and beer at my place and a movie?
B: I can’t. I have to go to Gangwon-do for some errands.
A: Why Gangwon-do all of a sudden in this situation?
B: My friend’s mother is harvesting corn and seems short-handed. Labor costs are high these days, so I’m going with my friend to help out.
A: Wow, a friend more like family. Totally framily. Have a good trip!

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.