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Just a simple question, which one has the closest meaning of soulmate,
**運命の人** or **心の友**? Are they interchangeable in Japanese?
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2017-04-05T08:22:47.997
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2017-04-05T09:52:23.153
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question
english-to-japanese
Closest meaning of Soulmate, 運命の人 or 心の友?
運命の人 is used exclusively to refer to a romantic partner or (future) spouse
with a lifelong bond with you. 心の友 is used to refer to a close friend,
typically of the same sex, as the kanji suggests. They are not interchangeable
at all in Japanese.

運命の人 is a relatively common phrase. On the other hand, 心の友 is rare except that
a manga character
[ジャイアン](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doraemon_characters#Takeshi_Goda)
uses this often. When I hear 心の友, I can't help recalling the character, and I
believe many native Japanese speakers are like me. See [image search results
for
心の友](https://search.yahoo.co.jp/image/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=sfp_as&aq=-1&oq=&ts=1942&p=%E5%BF%83%E3%81%AE%E5%8F%8B&meta=vc%3D).
Some online glossaries define this as a ジャイアン語 ("Jaian-ese") term.
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2017-04-05T08:43:07.957
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2017-04-05T09:52:23.153
2017-04-05T09:52:23.153
5010
5010
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answer