八: "eight,eight times."
拜: "kowtow,kow-tow to somebody"
"八拜" means a ceremony you should follow when you go to see the elders who are the friends of your parents or grandparents ,it's an old special way for Chinese to show respect for elders.It also means eight kinds of spirits of friendship.
之: "of"
交: "Friendship, friendly relation"
This idom means "friends who have known each other for a long time".
Correponding English idiom: "Sworn brothers."
Example sentence: Nick and I are good friends, we might even say that we are "sworn brothers". (我和尼克是好朋友, 甚至可以说是八拜之交.)
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