question about a phrase...

I know that 'uchi no' is often used to refer to someone (or something) belonging to someone's own family, can it be used to refer to someone who is a friend of the family by saying 'uchi no tomodachi'? I was uncertain if this phrase is commonly used in Japan or if there is another phrase more commonly used.

Thanks
Arden

As far as I know it's Kansai-ben and is used as any first person pronoun. So you could refer to "my X" by using uchi no X (where X can be anything).

That may be the Kansai usage, my understanding was that uchi as a possessive normally implied someone within or close to the family （うちのペット、うちの人 (husband). So I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work with tomodachi....

どもありがとうございます。

In Kansai they use "uchi" to mean "me". So "uchi no tomodachi" is "my friend" there. Elsewhere it usually refers to your whole household, like kids might say "uchi no okaasan" instead of the more adult "haha". You can shorten it to "chi" after stuff like "tonari no obasan no chi" - "the lady next door's place."

I think your version sounds like the former usage. Could be wrong though. It might well depend on context. Still I have my doubts. For me the friend doesn't BELONG enough to the family to use "uchi" that way. Family friend would be 家族みんなの友人 (kazoku minna no yuujin) literally.

Here is a random quote from Google: 今日はうちとうちの友達二人で店を任されている日だから... (Today was the day that me and my friend were left to run the shop, so...)