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A bromance is "a close but non-sexual relationship between two men". Is there an equivalent for women? IMO, sisterhood doesn't really fit.

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'bromance' is a pretty new neologism you know. frankly, 'male bonding' is only a couple decades old, and they both seem created to fill the missing lexical gap created by close friends assumed more likely to be female. – Mitch Sep 30 '12 at 14:44
@Mitch I'm not sure what you're trying to say. In any event, bromance sees quite a bit of use nowadays. Somebody (female) was telling me that there's no female equivalent because women don't "bond" as such. Hence my question :) – coleopterist Sep 30 '12 at 15:49
My point is many fold: you've mentioned a word, asking for counterpart. I think that word is particularly new so I don't think there is a good reason to expect an exact fit. Do you think French of German have translatable pairs? Exactly; this is a cultural artifact. Does BFF fit what you want? It's not explicitly gendered but I only ever hear it for females. – Mitch Oct 1 '12 at 13:06
@Mitch It didn't necessarily have to be a portmanteau like bromance. It is also not a junk word as its requirement is quite valid. In any event, as you can see, an appropriate counterpart to bromance does exist and going by Books (and if you excuse the false positives), it appears to be seeing some use as well. IMO, BFF is more of a teenager thing. I'm also unsure why people think that this is 'not constructive' or 'general reference' either ... – coleopterist Oct 1 '12 at 13:46

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up vote 6 down vote accepted

Womance is the word you are looking for.

There is allegedly homance but I have never heard it in use.

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Thank you :) Sounds very Elmer-Fudd-y. – coleopterist Sep 30 '12 at 15:43
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"A womance is a close but non-sexual relationship between two (or more) women, a form of homosocial intimacy. The word is the female equivalent of a bromance, being a portmanteau of the words woman and romance."

Someone had already suggested girlcrush: feelings of admiration and adoration which a straight girl has for another girl, without wanting to bang said girl. a nonsexual attraction, usually based on veneration at some level.

UrbanDictionary defines girlcrush as:
A (normally) straight girl's crush on another girl, often a celebrity. Is mostly platonic in nature. A girl who is girlcrushing must by definition be straight, otherwise it's just a regular crush.

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Thanks, Kris :) – coleopterist Sep 30 '12 at 15:50

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