comrade

English

Alternative forms

• comrad

Etymology

From late Middle English comered, 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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmɹæd/, /ˈkɑmɹəd/
• (Republic of Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/, /ˈkʊmɹeɪd/, /-ɹeːd/
• (Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/, /ˈkʌmɹeɪd/, /-ɹeːd/

Noun

comrade (plural comrades)

1. 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.

3. (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?

5. (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

• comrade in arms
• comradeless
• comradeliness
• comradely
• comradery
• comradeship
• comradess

Related terms

• camaraderie

Translations

mate, companion, or associate

• Alutor: тумгытум (tumɣətum)
• Arabic: رَفِيق m (rafīq), رَفِيقَة f (rafīqa), صَدِيق m (ṣadīq), صَدِيقَة f (ṣadīqa)
• Bashkir: иптәш (iptəş)
• Basque: lagun (eu)
• Belarusian: тава́рыш m (taváryš), тава́рышка f (taváryška), ся́бар m (sjábar), сябро́ўка f (sjabróŭka)
• 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: ἑταῖρος m (hetaîros), ἑταίρα f (hetaíra)

• 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: comes m or f, socius (la) m
• Lithuanian: bičiulis m, bičiulė f, bendražygis m, bendražygė f
• Macedonian: другар m (drugar), другарка f (drugarka)
• Norman: canmathade m or f (Jersey)
• Old East Slavic: товарищь m (tovariščĭ)
• Ottoman Turkish: یولداش (yoldaş), رفیق (refik), قولداش (koldaş), آیاقداش (ayakdaş), حریف (herif)
• Pashto: رفيق (ps) m (rafíq)
• Persian:

  Dari: رَفِیق (rafīq)

  Iranian Persian: رَفیق (rafiğ)

• 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)
• 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 (iptəş)
• 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)
• 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
• Ottoman Turkish: یولداش (yoldaş)
• 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
• Vietnamese: đồng chí (vi) (同志)
• Ukrainian: това́риш m (továryš), това́ришка f (továryška)

fellow socialist or communist

• Abkhaz: аҩыза (ajʷəza)
• Albanian: shok (sq) m
• Arabic: رَفِيق m (rafīq), رَفِيقَة f (rafīqa)
• Armenian: ընկեր (hy) (ənker)
• Azerbaijani: yoldaş (az)
• Bashkir: иптәш (iptəş)
• 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)
• 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: 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 (rafiğ)

• 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

  Roman: drȗg (sh) m, drugàrica (sh) f

• Slovak: súdruh m, súdružka f
• Slovene: tovariš (sl) m, tovarišica f
• Spanish: compañero (es) m, compañera (es) f, camarada (es) m or f
• Swahili: rafiki (sw) class ma
• Swedish: kamrat (sv) c
• Tagalog: kasama
• Tajik: рафиқ (rafiq)
• 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 (tabaarıs)
• 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 (iptəş)
• 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)
• 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
• 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 (rafiğ)

• 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

  Roman: drȗg (sh) m

• Slovak: súdruh m, súdružka f
• Slovene: tovariš (sl) m, tovarišica f
• Spanish: camarada (es) m or f, compañero (es) m, compañera (es) f
• Swahili: ndugu (sw)
• Swedish: kamrat (sv) c
• Tagalog: kasama
• Tajik: рафиқ (rafiq‍)
• Tamil: தோழரே (tōḻarē)
• 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)

1. (intransitive) To associate with someone in a friendly way.
   • 1916, Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger:

     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.

Further reading

• “comrade”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “comrade”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “comrade (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• DeMarco, Demarco, Mercado, caromed, dome car