How many best friends do you have?

@NudasPriest "best" = "of the most excellent or desirable type or quality"; excelling all others.

@helenS Cambridge Dictionary example under "Best":
best friend She was my best friend (= the friend I liked most).

@NudasPriest It's always fun to find definitions of ordinary language words - definitions which contain less common words.

@helenS The nuances of certain words do change too, I admit - though I'm not happy about it.

@NudasPriest LOL