on first-name terms
1
4.3
- idiom
:
de tú
- After working together for several years, the team members are all on first-name terms with each other.
Examples
-
Everyone on first name terms at the Prime Minister's insistence.
-
You might as well, we're all on first name terms these days, Andrew.
-
By now, almost everyone is on first-name terms.
Fiction book (2001) -
At both of these institutions, academic staff and students were on first-name terms.
Blog text (3) -
Don't know anybody who has, except the Indians, but they figure they're on first-name terms with Bigfoot.
-
She was on first-name terms with FedEx, DHL, and UPS.
Fiction book (1991) -
You can easily tell we're on first-name terms because we call each other by our first names.
-
It's nice to be on first-name terms with my neighbor; we often chat over the fence.
Antonyms
How Familiar
940
1.0
5
5.1
1
4.3
892
2.3
114
3.5
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
on + first-name + terms
The meaning is directly and transparently compositional: 'terms' refers to the way people relate, 'first-name' specifies that the mode of address uses given names, and the pattern 'on ... terms' (as in 'on good terms') indicates the type of relationship. This construction follows a regular English combination and has clear parallels in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
On first-name terms comes from the simple image of people dropping formal titles and calling each other by their first-name instead of 'Mr' or 'Ms'. So, being on first-name terms means you have a friendly, 'informal' relationship.