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In the original Muppet Movie (video, lyrics in description), Jim Henson asserted there is not, but that was 1979.

Now it's a few decades later, and the English language has evolved, including a lot around changing speed and depth of new relationships. It seems possible that there might be a word that describes a first meeting of two people that is accompanied by a resonating familiarity, déjà vu, and sense of overlap in perspectives and values, leading to a feeling of a strong relationship despite the absence of actual length.

Also in the past few decades, we've gained the EL&U Stack Exchange, where such a question can be asked. So, give it your best shot!

The target word could be a noun describing a person (with grammatical usage similar to other relational terms like friend, enemy, acquaintance, companion, etc.) or the feeling (with usage similar to déjà vu but focused specifically on a person and indicating a feeling of strong connection but not necessarily a confusion over having actually met the person or interacted extensively with them before). Upvotes would also be given for words that describe the experience/encounter/scene (with grammatical usage similar to meet cute).

Kaukokaipuu, "a feeling of homesickness for a place you've never visited," is something that may be reduced/resolved by the event of meeting this person, although with kaukokaipuu it seems like you know in advance what it is that you're missing. The book with that word may also have an answer to this question.

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  • What about "affinity" ? (a natural harmony or attraction to other persons)
    – Graffito
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 0:17
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    The phrase "new best friend" gets some usage. You could say the friend's "just click".
    – Neil W
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 10:15
  • "Instant best friends" or anything like that, or you "feel like you've known each other forever/for years". But none of these are single words.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 25 at 17:56

5 Answers 5

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It is tempting to co-opt fast friends for this purpose (as was done in an online blog), but it would be a gross deviation from the traditional idiom. Fast in this case refers to steadfast.

A phrase that may apply may be newfound friend, although it does not exactly express how quickly the relationship formed. An old acquaintance may become a newfound friend.

As a twist, you could try combining the two:

This is Robert, my new fast friend.

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In a search, the closest I could find is "Instant Rapport," presumably described in a book of that title by Michael Brooks published a decade after the song quote adapted for this question's title.

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    It would be better to include this with your question.
    – jxh
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 23:17
  • It is an answer, that can be voted/discussed on its own merit, even if it carefully leaves the door open for it not being the only/best answer. See also english.stackexchange.com/help/self-answer.
    – WBT
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 12:33
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    It wasn't my down vote. This answer seems to be research that led to an unsatisfactory result, which is why I suggested making it a part of your question.
    – jxh
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 17:17
  • Had someone else asked this question, I would not have downplayed the answer as much; I did so here so as to signal openness (beyond the weak signal that the answer isn't Accepted, which is not even a signal within the first couple days after posting when accepting one's own answers isn't possible) and encourage other answerers.
    – WBT
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 19:35
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I couldn't find anything so I made my own. How about "friendship at first sight?" It's not elegant but I think most folks would understand it immediately.

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The term "Soulmates" is close but that might be too intimate. I've heard the term, "Twin brothers from different mothers" before but it leaves sisters out. Agape is "fraternal love" but implies a long term, developed bond. There's something about "resonance" that I like but isn't new friend specific No standalone word comes up immediately, sorry !

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  • I don't think any of these imply "new".
    – Stuart F
    Commented Aug 8 at 14:42
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Common ground:

opinions or interests shared by each of two or more parties.

"artists from different cultural backgrounds found common ground"

Lexico

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