comrade

English

Etymology

From earlier cumrade, camrade, comerade, camerade, camarade, from Middle French camarade, from Spanish camarada or Italian camerata (“chamber mate”), from Medieval Latin *camarata, from Latin camara, camera (“vaulted room, chamber”); see chamber. Compare camaraderie and chamberlain.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/
- (MLE) IPA^(key): [ˈkʰɔmɹed]
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmɹæd/, /ˈkɑmɹəd/
Audio (California): (file)
(Republic of Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/, /ˈkʊmɹeɪd/, /-ɹeːd/
(Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/, /ˈkʌmɹeɪd/, /-ɹeːd/

Noun

comrade (plural comrades)

A mate, companion, or associate. [from 1590s]
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 20:
  [… these tears] Which weep the comrade of my choice,
  ⁠An awful thought, a life removed,
  ⁠The human-hearted man I loved,
  A spirit, not a breathing voice.
1. A companion in battle; fellow soldier.
  - 2019, Antony Beevor, chapter 16, in Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944, Penguin Books, page 194:
    Wierzbowski and his men were so exhausted that they could hardly stay awake, but they knew they could not abandon their wounded comrades.
(communism, by extension) A fellow socialist, communist or other similarly politically aligned person. [from 1884]
Hello, comrade. Are you going to the Communist Party meeting tonight?
- 1976, Survey of People's Republic of China Press, numbers 6086–6105, United States Consulate General (Hong Kong), →ISSN, →OCLC, page 187:
  Many comrades like Chang Te-fa, deputy secretary of the Party committee of Hsialuho commune of K'uantien county, precisely see the hope of the revolutionary cause in the youths.
- 1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 604:
  "How is it, comrades?" the admiral shouted through a bullhorn at each ship. "Rah, rah, rah!" the sailors shouted back in unison.
(communism) A non-hierarchical title, functionally similar to "Mr.", "Mrs.", "Miss", "Ms." etc, in a communist, socialist, or rarely in an Islamist state. [from 1884]
Comrade Lenin inspired our people to undertake great works.

Synonyms

see also Thesaurus:friend
(title): compare sister, brother
battle buddy
tovarish
compagno

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

mate, companion, or associate

Alutor: тумгытум (tumɣətum)
Arabic: رَفِيق m (rafīq), رَفِيقَة f (rafīqa), صَدِيق m (ṣadīq), صَدِيقَة f (ṣadīqa)
Bashkir: иптәш (eptäş)
Basque: lagun (eu)
Belarusian: тава́рыш m (taváryš), тава́рышка f (taváryška), ся́бар m (sjábar), сябро́ўка f (sjabrówka)
Bulgarian: друга́р (bg) m (drugár), друга́рка (bg) f (drugárka)
Catalan: camarada (ca) m or f
Chechen: накъост (naqʼost), гӏоьнча (ğönča), стаг (stag)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 同志 (tung⁴ zi³)

Dungan: тунзы (tunzɨ)

Eastern Min: 同志 (dùng-cé)

Hakka: 同志 (thùng-chṳ)

Hokkien: 同志 (tông-chì)

Mandarin: 同志 (zh) (tóngzhì)

Wu: 同志 (³don-tsr)
Czech: kamarád (cs) m, druh (cs) m, družka (cs) f
Danish: kammerat c, makker c
Dutch: makker (nl) m, maat (nl) m, kameraad (nl) m
Esperanto: kamarado, samideano (eo)
Finnish: kaveri (fi)
French: camarade (fr) m or f
Galician: compañeiro (gl) m, amigallo m
Georgian: მეგობარი (megobari)
German: Kamerad (de) m
Greek: συνάδελφος (el) m (synádelfos), συναδέλφισσα f (synadélfissa)
Ancient Greek: ἑταῖρος m (hetaîros), ἑταίρᾱ f (hetaírā), σύζυγος m (súzugos)
Hindi: रफ़ीक़ m (rafīq), साथी (hi) m (sāthī)
Hungarian: pajtás (hu)
Ido: kamarado (io)
Indonesian: kamerad (id)
Ingrian: tovarišša
Irish: comrádaí m
Japanese: 仲間 (ja) (なかま, nakama), 同志 (ja) (どうし, dōshi), 同伴者 (どうはんしゃ, dōhansha), 同僚 (ja) (どうりょう, dōryō)
Khmer: សមមិត្ត (saʼmaʼmɨt), ភឿន (km) (phɨən)
Korean: 동무(同務) (ko) (dongmu), 동지(同志) (ko) (dongji), 동료(同僚) (ko) (dongnyo), 동반자(同伴者) (ko) (dongbanja), 동행자(同行者) (donghaengja)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: heval (ku)
Latin: sodālis
Lithuanian: bičiulis m, bičiulė f, bendražygis m, bendražygė f
Macedonian: другар m (drugar), другарка f (drugarka)
Malay: rakan se perjuangan; komrad (Malaysia)
Norman: canmathade m or f (Jersey)
Old East Slavic: товарищь m (tovariščĭ)
Pashto: رفيق (ps) m (rafíq)
Persian:
Dari: رَفِیق (rafīq)

Iranian Persian: رَفیق (rafiġ)
Polish: kamrat (pl) m, kompan (pl) m, towarzysz (pl) m, kolega (pl) m, koleżanka (pl) f, druh (pl) m
Portuguese: camarada (pt) m or f, parceiro (pt) m, companheiro (pt) m
Quechua: masi (qu)
Romanian: tovarăș (ro) m, camarad (ro) m
Russian: това́рищ (ru) m (továrišč) (both genders), друг (ru) m (drug), подру́га (ru) f (podrúga)
Slovak: druh (sk) m, družka (sk) f
Slovene: tovariš (sl) m, kolega m
Somali: jaalle (so)
Spanish: compañero (es) m, colega (es) m, camarada (es), correligionario (es)
Sranan Tongo: mati, kompe, staman, brada, kâbel
Swahili: rafiki (sw) class ma
Swedish: kamrat (sv) c
Tajik: рафиқ (rafiq)
Tarifit: amedukker m
Tibetan: བློ་མཐུན (blo mthun), བློ་མཐུན་པ (blo mthun pa), མཐུན་གྲོགས (mthun grogs), རོགས (rogs), གྲོགས (grogs), རོགས་པ (rogs pa), གྲོགས་པོ (grogs po)
Turkish: yoldaş (tr)
Ottoman Turkish: یولداش (yoldaş), رفیق (refik), قولداش (koldaş), آیاقداش (ayakdaş), حریف (herif)
Ukrainian: това́риш m (továryš), това́ришка f (továryška), друг (uk) m (druh), подру́га f (podrúha), по́друга f (pódruha)
Urdu: رَفِیق m (rafīq)
Uzbek: oʻrtoq (uz), doʻst (uz), rafiq (uz)
Vietnamese: đồng chí (vi) (同志), bằng hữu (vi)
Yiddish: חבֿר (yi) m (khaver)

companion in battle, fellow soldier

Arabic: رَفِيق m (rafīq), رَفِيقَة f (rafīqa)
Bashkir: иптәш (eptäş)
Basque: kamarada
Belarusian: тава́рыш m (taváryš), тава́рышка f (taváryška)
Catalan: camarada (ca) m or f
Chechen: накъост (naqʼost)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 同志 (tung⁴ zi³), 戰友 / 战友 (zin³ jau⁵)

Dungan: тунзы (tunzɨ)

Eastern Min: 同志 (dùng-cé)

Hakka: 同志 (thùng-chṳ)

Hokkien: 同志 (tông-chì), 戰友 / 战友 (chiàn-iú)

Mandarin: 同志 (zh) (tóngzhì), 戰友 / 战友 (zh) (zhànyǒu)

Wu: 同志 (³don-tsr)
Danish: kammerat c, krigskammerat c, våbenbroder c, kampfælle (da) c, våbenfælle (da) c
Dutch: strijdmakker (nl) m, maat (nl) m, kameraad (nl) m
Finnish: taistelutoveri
French: camarade (fr) m or f
Galician: conpañeiro m, socio (gl) m
Georgian: თანამებრძოლი (tanamebrʒoli)
German: Kamerad (de) m
Greek: συμπολεμιστής (el) m (sympolemistís), συστρατιώτης (el) m (systratiótis)
Hindi: साथी (hi) m (sāthī)
Hungarian: bajtárs (hu)
Irish: comrádaí m
Japanese: 戦友 (ja) (せんゆう, sen'yū)
Korean: 전우(戰友) (ko) (jeonu)
Latin: commīlitō m
Macedonian: соборец m (soborec), другар m (drugar)
Old English: gūþwine m
Persian:
Iranian Persian: هَم‌رَزْم (ham-razm), بَرادَر (barâdar)
Polish: towarzysz (pl) m
Portuguese: camarada (pt) m
Romanian: camarad (ro) m, tovarăș (ro) m
Russian: това́рищ (ru) m (továrišč) (both genders), камара́д m (kamarád) (rare), сора́тник (ru) m (sorátnik), сора́тница (ru) f (sorátnica)
Spanish: camarada (es) m or f, conmilitón
Swedish: kamrat (sv) c
Turkish:
Ottoman Turkish: یولداش (yoldaş)
Ukrainian: това́риш m (továryš), това́ришка f (továryška)
Vietnamese: đồng chí (vi) (同志)

fellow socialist or communist

Abkhaz: аҩыза (ajʷəza)
Albanian: shok (sq) m
Altai:
Southern Altai: јолдош (ǰoldoš)
Arabic: رَفِيق m (rafīq), رَفِيقَة f (rafīqa)
Armenian: ընկեր (hy) (ənker)
Azerbaijani: yoldaş (az)
Bashkir: иптәш (eptäş)
Belarusian: тава́рыш m (taváryš), тава́рышка f (taváryška)
Bengali: কমরেড (bn) (komreḍ)
Bulgarian: друга́р (bg) m (drugár), друга́рка (bg) f (drugárka)
Burmese: ရဲဘော် (my) (rai:bhau)
Catalan: camarada (ca) m or f
Cebuano: kauban
Chechen: накъост (naqʼost)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 同志 (tung⁴ zi³)

Dungan: тунзы (tunzɨ)

Eastern Min: 同志 (dùng-cé)

Hakka: 同志 (thùng-chṳ)

Hokkien: 同志 (tông-chì)

Mandarin: 同志 (zh) (tóngzhì)

Wu: 同志 (³don-tsr)
Chuvash: юлташ (jult̬aš)
Czech: soudruh (cs) m, soudružka (cs) f
Danish: kammerat c
Dongxiang: tunzhi
Dutch: kameraad (nl) m
Esperanto: kamarado
Estonian: seltsimees
Finnish: toveri (fi)
French: camarade (fr) m or f
Georgian: ამხანაგი (amxanagi)
German: Genosse (de) m, Genossin (de) f
Greek: σύντροφος (el) m (sýntrofos), συντρόφισσα (el) f (syntrófissa)
Hebrew: חָבֵר (he) m (khavér), חֲבֵרָה (he) f (khaverá)
Hindi: साथी (hi) m (sāthī), कामरेड (hi) m (kāmreḍ), रफ़ीक़ m (rafīq), कॉमरेड m (kŏmreḍ)
Hungarian: elvtárs (hu) m, elvtársnő (hu) f
Ilocano: kadua
Indonesian: kamerad (id)
Ingrian: tovarišša
Irish: comrádaí m
Italian: compagno (it) m, compagna (it) f
Japanese: 同志 (ja) (どうし, dōshi)
Kalmyk: нөкр (nökr)
Kazakh: жолдас (joldas)
Khmer: សមមិត្ត (saʼmaʼmɨt), កាដុងជី (kaa dong cii), មិត្ត (km) (mɨt)
Korean: 동지(同志) (ko) (dongji), 동무(同務) (ko) (dongmu)
Kumyk: ёлдаш (yoldaş)
Kyrgyz: жолдош (ky) (joldoş)
Lao: ສະຫາຍ (sa hāi)
Latvian: biedrs (lv) m, biedre f, biedrene f
Lithuanian: draugas (lt) m, draugė f
Macedonian: другар m (drugar), другарка f (drugarka)
Malay: saudara (ms) or saudari (ms) (depending on gender); komrad (ms), kamerad; kawan (ms), sahabat (ms)
Malayalam: സഖാവ് (ml) m (sakhāvŭ)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: нөхөр (mn) (nöxör)
Nepali: कमरेड (kamareḍ)
Norman: canmathade m or f (Jersey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kamerat (no) m
Pashto: رفيق (ps) m (rafíq)
Persian:
Dari: رَفِیق (rafīq)

Iranian Persian: رَفیق (rafiġ)
Polish: towarzysz (pl) m, towarzyszka (pl) f
Portuguese: camarada (pt) m, companheiro (pt) m
Romanian: tovarăș (ro) m, tovarășă (ro) f
Russian: това́рищ (ru) m (továrišč) (both genders), камара́д m (kamarád) (foreign context)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: дру̑г m, друга̀рица f

Latin: drȗg (sh) m, drugàrica (sh) f
Slovak: súdruh m, súdružka f
Slovene: tovariš (sl) m, tovarišica f
Spanish: compañero (es) m, compañera (es) f (more common among anarchists and other libertarian socialists); camarada (es) m or f (more common among Marxists and social democrats)
Swahili: rafiki (sw) class ma, komredi
Swedish: kamrat (sv) c
Tagalog: kasama
Tajik: рафиқ (rafiq)
Tamil: தோழர் (tōḻar)
Tatar: иптәш (tt) (iptäş)
Thai: สหาย (th) (sà-hǎai)
Tibetan: བློ་མཐུན (blo mthun)
Turkish: yoldaş (tr)
Turkmen: ýoldaş
Tuvan: эш (eş)
Ukrainian: това́риш m (továryš), това́ришка f (továryška)
Urdu: ساتھی (ur) m (sāthī), کامْریڈ m (kāmreḍ)
Uyghur: يولداش (ug) (yoldash)
Uzbek: oʻrtoq (uz), rafiq (uz)
Vietnamese: đồng chí (vi) (同志)
Yakut: табаарыс (tabaarïs)
Yiddish: גענאָסע m (genose), קאַמעראַד m (kamerad), חבֿר (yi) m (khaver), גענאָסינע f (genosine), חבֿרטע (yi) f (khaverte)
Zhuang: dungzci

title used in leftist circles

Abkhaz: аҩыза (ajʷəza)
Albanian: shok (sq) m
Arabic: رَفِيق m (rafīq), رَفِيقَة f (rafīqa)
Armenian: ընկեր (hy) (ənker)
Azerbaijani: yoldaş (az)
Bashkir: иптәш (eptäş)
Belarusian: тава́рыш m (taváryš), тава́рышка f (taváryška)
Bengali: কমরেড (bn) (komreḍ)
Bulgarian: друга́р (bg) m (drugár), друга́рка (bg) f (drugárka)
Catalan: camarada (ca) m or f
Cebuano: kauban
Chinese:
Cantonese: 同志 (tung⁴ zi³)

Dungan: тунзы (tunzɨ)

Eastern Min: 同志 (dùng-cé)

Hakka: 同志 (thùng-chṳ)

Hokkien: 同志 (tông-chì)

Mandarin: 同志 (zh) (tóngzhì)

Wu: 同志 (³don-tsr)
Czech: soudruh (cs) m, soudružka (cs) f
Danish: kammerat c
Dutch: kameraad (nl) m
Esperanto: kamarado, k-do
Estonian: seltsimees
Finnish: toveri (fi)
French: camarade (fr)
Georgian: ამხანაგი (amxanagi)
German: Genosse (de) m
Greek: σύντροφος (el) m (sýntrofos), συντρόφισσα (el) f (syntrófissa)
Hebrew: חָבֵר (he) m (khavér), חֲבֵרָה (he) f (khaverá)
Hindi: कामरेड (hi) m (kāmreḍ), साथी (hi) (sāthī), रफ़ीक़ m (rafīq), कॉमरेड m (kŏmreḍ)
Hungarian: elvtárs (hu) m, elvtársnő (hu) f
Icelandic: félagi (is)
Indonesian: kamerad (id)
Irish: comrádaí m
Italian: compagno (it) m, compagna (it) f
Japanese: 同志 (ja) (どうし, dōshi)
Kazakh: жолдас (joldas)
Khmer: សមមិត្ត (saʼmaʼmɨt)
Korean: 동무(同務) (ko) (dongmu), 동지(同志) (ko) (dongji)
Kyrgyz: жолдош (ky) (joldoş)
Lao: ສະຫາຍ (sa hāi)
Latin: comes m
Latvian: biedrs (lv) m, biedre f, biedrene f
Lithuanian: draugas (lt) m, draugė f
Malay: saudara (ms) or saudari (ms) (depending on gender)
Macedonian: другар m (drugar), другарка f (drugarka)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: нөхөр (mn) (nöxör)
Nepali: कमरेड (kamareḍ), साथी (sāthī)
Nogai: йолдас (yoldas)
Norman: canmathade m or f (Jersey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kamerat (no) m
Pashto: رفيق (ps) m (rafíq)
Persian:
Dari: رَفِیق (rafīq)

Iranian Persian: رَفیق (rafiġ)
Polish: towarzysz (pl) m, towarzyszka (pl) f
Portuguese: camarada (pt) m or f
Romanian: tovarăș (ro) m, tovarășă (ro) f
Russian: това́рищ (ru) m (továrišč) (both genders)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: дру̑г m

Latin: drȗg (sh) m
Slovak: súdruh m, súdružka f
Slovene: tovariš (sl) m, tovarišica f
Spanish: camarada (es) m or f (more common among social democrats and Marxists); compañero (es) m, compañera (es) f (more common among anarchists and other libertarian socialists)
Swahili: ndugu (sw), komredi
Swedish: kamrat (sv) c
Tagalog: kasama
Tajik: рафиқ (rafiq‍)
Tamil: தோழர் (tōḻar)
Tatar: иптәш (tt) (iptäş)
Thai: สหาย (th) (sà-hǎai)
Tibetan: བློ་མཐུན (blo mthun)
Turkish: yoldaş (tr)
Turkmen: ýoldaş
Ukrainian: това́риш m (továryš), това́ришка f (továryška)
Urdu: کامْریڈ m (kāmreḍ)
Uzbek: safdosh (uz)
Vietnamese: đồng chí (vi) (同志)
Yiddish: חבֿר (yi) m (khaver), גענאָסע (genose), חבֿרטע (yi) (khaverte)
Zhuang: dungzci

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: ^{(please verify)} kameraad (nl) n, ^{(please verify)} gabber (nl) n, ^{(please verify)} maat (nl) n
Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} kamarado
Italian: ^{(please verify)} compagno (it) m, ^{(please verify)} camerata (it) m or f
Old English: ^{(please verify)} ġesīþ, ^{(please verify)} ġefēra

Verb

comrade (third-person singular simple present comrades, present participle comrading, simple past and past participle comraded)

(intransitive) To associate with someone in a friendly way.
- 1897–1908 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens]; [Albert Bigelow Paine, Frederick Duneka], “(please specify the page)”, in The Mysterious Stranger: A Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published October 1916, →OCLC:
  But she was happy, for she was far away under another sky, and comrading again with her Rangers, and her animal friends, and the soldiers.

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “comrade (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

DeMarco, Demarco, Mercado, caromed, dome car