The terms ‘Friend’ and ‘Acquaintance’ are the types of relationships or relationship tags that people use to share with the opposite person. It’s very important to detect the difference between both the terms as it informs us to know more about a friendly relationship or a real friend’s relationship. There are some slight differences between both the terms, which makes it more clear and vivid of their differences.
Friend vs Acquaintance
The main difference between a Friend and an Acquaintance is that a Friend is a person with whom we share a close and intimate bond. On the other hand, an Acquaintance is a person with whom we have good relations but, not as intimate as a friend. Also, we can say that Friends take a lot of time to build their relationship with each other. But, on the other hand, an Acquaintance does not take much time to build the relationship between two persons.
The person with whom we share a close bond or mutual affection is known as a Friend. It falls under the cat6of informal relationships. It concludes mutual understanding between two people. Also, Friends share everything like secrets or honest opinions, etc. Friends also, help each other when they are in a tough phase or need.
On the other hand, the person with whom we do not share a close bond, or who we simply know is known as an Acquaintance. Often Acquaintances maintain a line or boundary between them. Hence, they fall under the category of informal relationships. An acquaintance does not share their secrets or close things, they only have a minimalistic talk or knowledge about each other that does not involve any personal details.
Comparison Table Between Friend and Acquaintance
| Parameters of Comparison | Friend | Acquaintance |
| Definition | Friend refers to a person, that has a close bonding with the opposite person. | Acquaintance refers to a person, that does not have a close bonding, but has good relations with the opposite person. |
| The emergence of the Term | The term ‘friend’ has been originated or emerged from an Old English term ‘freond’, meaning love or to favour. | The term ‘acquaintance’ has been originated or emerged from the French term ‘acointier’, meaning make known. |
| The Depth of the Relation | A friend has a deeper bond. | An acquaintance has comparatively a shallow bond. |
| Time of Formation | Two friends take a comparatively longer time to build and grow their relationship. | An Acquaintance bond takes a lesser time to form the relation. |
| Relationship Type | A friend is a close bonding relationship. | An acquaintance is not a close bonding relationship. |
| Physical Contact | A friend is someone, whom we can hug or sometimes kiss. | An Acquaintance is someone, with whom we generally don’t kiss and hug, as it is not that close bond. |
| Comfort level | People share a very high comfort level with a friend. | People do share a comparatively lower comfort level with an acquaintance. |
| Formal/Informal Relationship | Friends have an informal relationship. | Acquaintances have a formal relationship. |
| Interaction | Friends have a good amount of interaction and often friends go out together. | Acquaintances do not catch up or interact often. |
What is a Friend?
The person whom we trust and have all our secrets preserved inside them, and that person is a Friend. This relationship is different from the other relationships or relationship tags as it is shared with someone whom we trust blindly, love to spend time together, keep our honest opinions and no judgemental thoughts about each other, etc. Hence, it makes it different from any other relationship. Friends never hide or lie to each other, instead, they share things and ask for honest opinions.
To become friends, people require a lot of stages to be crossed and then become a friend. We can not randomly become friends without knowing each other or having the same interest or vibe, same affection, and mutual understanding towards each other. Hence, it requires a lot of time to develop and grow as friends for each other. The term ‘friend’ has been originated or emerged from an Old English term ‘freond’, meaning love or to favour. Therefore, love or caring between friends is very essential, as it gives strength and power to stand for each other.
Since there is no formality within friends, it falls under the category of informal relationships. It is a close and intact bonding. Also, a friend is someone, whom we can hug or sometimes kiss. We can kiss or hug them, as the comfort and understanding level between friends is so high that it never offends the opposite person. It can be seen that friends like each other’s company so much, that they often hang out with each other.
What is an Acquaintance?
The person whom we hardly know, and just meet rarely or coincidently is known to be Acquaintance. People do not share a close bond with the acquaintance, as we hardly know each other. No personal or private details are shared with an acquaintance. It is only kept till the minimalistic talk. Also, we do not share secrets with an acquaintance. The term ‘acquaintance’ has been originated or emerged from the French term ‘acointier’, meaning make known.
An acquaintance has a shallow bonding with the opposite person. Deep talks or deep bond is not possessed by the people. Also, it falls into the formal category, because there is a lot of formality shown towards each other. An Acquaintance is someone, with whom we generally don’t kiss and hug, as it is not that close bond. It is very awkward and not comfortable enough to hug or kiss an acquaintance. It roughly possessed any contact, hence it share a low level of comfort between two acquaintances.
Acquaintances do not catch up or interact often. They rarely meet each other. The stage of acquaintance is crossed if two persons are comfortable enough with each other, or share mutual affection towards each other, hence after a long time of knowing each other people can end up being friends. Also, it never takes a long time to become acquaintances, as it only involves generally knowing each other.
Main Differences Between Friend and Acquaintance
- Friend refers to a person, that has a close bonding with the opposite person. On the other hand, Acquaintance refers to a person, that does not have a close bonding, but has good relations with the opposite person.
- The term ‘friend’ has been originated or emerged from an Old English term ‘freond’, meaning love or to favour. On the other hand, the term ‘acquaintance’ has been originated or emerged from the French term ‘acointier’, meaning make known.
- A friend has a deeper bond. On the other hand, an acquaintance has comparatively a shallow bond.
- Two friends take a comparatively longer time to build and grow their relationship. On the other hand, an Acquaintance bond takes lesser time to form the relation.
- A friend is a close bonding relationship. On the other hand, an acquaintance is not a close bonding relationship.
- A friend is someone, whom we can hug or sometimes kiss. On the other hand, an Acquaintance is someone, with whom we generally don’t kiss and hug, as it is not that close bond.
- People share a very high comfort level with a friend. On the other hand, people do share a comparatively lower comfort level with an acquaintance.
- Friends have an informal relationship. On the other hand, Acquaintances have a formal relationship.
- Friends have a good amount of interaction and often friends go out together. On the other hand, Acquaintances do not catch up or interact often.
Conclusion
Friend and Acquaintance are two stages of Friendship. We can say that the person with whom we share anything and everything is known to be a friend but, on the other hand, the person whom we generally know is known to be a long acquaintance. Both terms have different meanings, depth, relations, etc. Even though there can be many people whom we might know but a friend’s place can not be taken by anyone. We often meet our friends but, we rarely meet our acquaintances.
References
- https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ps.51.3.386
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sltb.12158