A person with whom one becomes friendly by exchanging letters, especially someone in a foreign country whom one has never met.
〈主英〉（尤指远在外国，从未见面的）笔友，通信朋友
Example sentencesExamples
After an extensive search and widespread publicity, the 16-year-old was found a week later safe and well and staying with her penfriend in Northern Ireland.
The couple first came into contact with one another as penfriends, while Vincent was working in London in the early 1970s.
Needless to say, I have my penfriend in stitches with some of our sayings!
He also considers himself lucky to have gained two penfriends with whom he remains in touch.
Before the magic of email, collectors of penfriends used to have to wait for slow overseas mails to get replies to their letters.
Throw into this mix, then, an idea expressed in a recent letter from a Peruvian penfriend.
Anyway, I think online penfriends will be a good idea for me when I have some actual vocab to try out, but right now I need the structure and base that a course will give me.
For now, she is staying at her penfriend's home with his parents.
He met his wife Joan after she became his penfriend.
She became my best friend and confidante and penfriend.