pen pal

American  

noun

1. a person with whom one keeps up an exchange of letters, usually someone so far away that a personal meeting is unlikely.

   My niece in Texas has a pen pal in France.

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pen pal British  

noun

1. Also called: pen friend.  a person with whom one regularly exchanges letters, often a person in another country whom one has not met

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Etymology

Origin of pen pal

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Example Sentences

Directed by Shunji Iwai, “Love Letter” starred Nakayama as both a woman mourning her late fiancé and her unexpected pen pal.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2024

We've already had fans telling BBC Scotland about rooms being booked, flights lined up and favours being pulled in from that long-lost school pen pal offering a room in Dusseldorf.

From BBC • Oct. 15, 2023

Sigrid shared similar experiences, offering that “your pen pal will change your perspective on life, and you will gain as much as they do from the correspondence.”

From Slate • Sep. 12, 2023

Lily had been studying English in school and had a British pen pal, whose family agreed to sponsor Lily’s removal to England as part of the operation known as Kindertransport.

From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2022

“My pen pal was lame,” Alison chimed in.

From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda

Related Words

• letter writer