mate

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A friend.

   I'm going to the pub with a few mates.

2. 2
   noun

   A fellow member of a team or group.

   He passed the ball to his teammate.

3. 3
   noun

   The sexual partner of an animal.

   The male bird sings to attract a mate.

4. 4
   verb

   (of animals) To come together to produce young.

   Many birds mate in the spring.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Mate, recorded from the late Middle Ages, is related to meat through the idea of a companion as someone with whom food is shared. Meat originally meant food generally, rather than animal flesh alone.

From Middle English mate, a borrowing from Middle Low German mate (“messmate”) (replacing Middle English mett, mette (“table companion, mate, partner”), from Old English ġemetta (“sharer of food, table-guest”)), from Old Saxon gimato, derived from Proto-Germanic *gamatjô, itself from *ga- (“together”) (related to German and Dutch ge-) + *matjô (from *matiz (“food”)), related to Old English mete (“food”)). From the same Middle Low German source stems German Low German Maat (“journeyman, companion”), German Maat (“naval non-commissioned officer”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Moat (“friend…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary