In Spanish, a child’s father and godfather are, to each other, “compadres”—that is, “co-fathers”—but in English the word refers simply to a close friend. Like amigo, Spanish compadre is a masculine term; the equivalent feminine term is comadre. The earliest known evidence of compadre in English use comes from an 1834 book by Albert Pike, in which both compadre and comadre appear. Comadre makes occasional appearances in English contexts, but it has yet to become established sufficiently in the language to join its compadre in our dictionaries.
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they're longtime compadres who have been through a lot together
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In this crowd, Harris was more of a distant political figure than a hometown compadre.—Mackenzie Mays, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2024 And, yes, the Demon Nun brings along some of her visage-less compadres from the previous movie.—Clark Collis, EW.com, 5 July 2023 This is just a man in his elements, with his Bills Mafia compadres, enjoying the dead of winter.—Jack Irvin, Peoplemag, 25 Jan. 2024 The weekend was supposed to be about good baseball, the brothers Lowe (Nathaniel and Josh) and Cuban compadres Adolis García and Randy Arozarena showing off.—Evan Grant, Dallas News, 11 June 2023 See all Example Sentences for compadre
Word History
Etymology
Spanish, literally, godfather, from Medieval Latin compater — more at compeer
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