pen-pal

noun

1. a person with whom one keeps up an exchange of letters, usually someone so far away that a personal meeting is unlikely: My niece in Texas has a pen pal in France.

noun

1. a person with whom one regularly exchanges letters, often a person in another country whom one has not metAlso called: pen friend

n.also pen pal, 1931, from pen (n.1) + pal (n.). gradually replacing earlier pen-friend (1919).