single word requests - Term or idiom to describe a best friend since your childhood


In Chinese, there is a four-character phrase, 竹马故友 which could be translated word for word into:



Bamboo Horse Old Friend: Friends who played together riding toy horses made of bamboo.



I know there is a similar term in Japanese and Korean. Japanese is 竹馬の友 which means a friend of bamboo horse. I heard from a Japanese expert that it is not very common, but not difficult to understand for Japanese.


I wonder how a native speaker of English describes a best friend since childhood. For example, when you introduce him or her, you could say:



(S)he is my best friend since childhood. We are [best friend since childhood] or We used to [do something] together.



Is there any suitable term or idiom?



Answer



"Lifelong friends" is about as far back as you can go because most people would understand that tiny babies don't really have "friends" so to say "lifelong", it's generally understood that as long as someone were capable of having/being a friend, they've been friends.


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