搭子 dā zi
A friend for exactly one activity — and that's the point.
The short answer
CasualCurrent slangChecked November 2026
A dazi is a partner for one specific activity: a rice-dazi for lunches, a gym-dazi for workouts, a travel-dazi for one trip. The relationship covers that activity and nothing else.
In a chat
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
周末有人去爬山吗？我在找爬山搭子。
Anyone hiking this weekend? I'm looking for a hiking buddy.
- 亮亮 Liangliang
我要去！我也缺一个爬山搭子。
I'm in! I need a hiking buddy too.
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
太好了，吃饭也一起吧，你就是我的饭搭子了。
Great. Let's eat together too. You're my food buddy now.
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How to reply
好啊，算我一个！
Sure, count me in!
When not to use it
What it means
Chinese distinguishes finer than English here. A 朋友 owes you birthday dinners and favors. A dazi owes you showing up on Wednesday at noon. The word is lighter than “friend” and heavier than “stranger” — a slot between the two that city life quietly needed.
The pattern: find someone whose schedule and taste match for exactly one thing. You can have a different dazi for every activity, and the sum is a surprisingly full social calendar.
How people use it
The word almost always appears with a specifier: 饭搭子 (meals), 健身搭子 (gym), 旅游搭子 (travel), 上班搭子 (the colleague you commute with), 甚至遛娃搭子 for parents pushing strollers at the same park. Posts seeking one are a standard genre: state the activity, the days, the requirements, no romance.
The etiquette is the point: a dazi relationship can be paused without guilt and ended without a conversation. Turning into a real friendship is optional — though plenty drift that way.
Where it comes from
搭子 is an old dialect word — people spoke of a 牌搭子, a regular card partner, generations ago. The new, wider use spread online with posts that look for a 饭搭子, someone to share lunch with and nothing more.
In December 2023, 咬文嚼字 magazine put 搭子 on its national top-ten list, cementing it as the word for structured, low-maintenance company.
In use
2 examples我在找旅游搭子，五一一起去云南。
I'm looking for a travel partner — Yunnan over the May holiday.
她是我的饭搭子，每周三一起吃火锅。
She's my lunch partner — hotpot together every Wednesday.
The characters
Explore individuallyIndividual character meanings do not always explain the meaning of the whole word.
Sources
This guide is original Dengdeng editorial content, offered under CC BY-SA 4.0. The linked dictionary entries adapt CC-CEDICT under the same license.