Compadre - Wiktionary

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Borrowed from Spanish compadre (“joint father, godfather, friend”). Doublet of compeer, compere, and goombah.

Noun

[edit]

compadre (plural compadres)

1. A friend or companion.
   • 1839, J. P., W. P. Robertson, Letters from Paraguay, comprising an account of four years residence in that republic, under the dictator Francia, London: John Murray, page 339:Whenever he had a compadre or a friend, it was his bounden duty to do him some service.
   • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 367:He looks like a solid guy. Hiro leans into him. "Compadre, who is the guy with the antenna? A friend of yours?"

Anagrams

[edit]

• compared

Galician

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Old Galician-Portuguese compadre, conpadre (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Late Latin compater, compatrem, from com- + Latin pater.

Cognate with Portuguese compadre, Spanish compadre, Catalan compare and Italian compare.

Pronunciation

[edit]

• IPA(key): [komˈpaðɾɪ]
• Hyphenation: com‧pa‧dre

Noun

[edit]

compadre m (plural compadres, feminine comadre, feminine plural comadres)

1. godfather of one’s child; father of one’s godchild
2. father of one's child's spouse; co-father-in-law Synonym: consogro
3. (familiar) a close friend; compadre Synonyms: amigo, camarada, compañeiro Á taberna do meu compadre fun polo vento, vin polo aire; Debe ser cousa de encantamento, ir polo aire, vir polo vento! (traditional, festive song)To my mate's tavern I went in the wind, came back by the air; it must be an enchantment, to go by air, to came back in the wind!

Related terms

[edit]

• padre

See also

[edit]

• comadre

References

[edit]

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “compadre”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “conpadre”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “compadre”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “compadre”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “compadre”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Portuguese

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Old Galician-Portuguese compadre, conpadre, from Late Latin compatrem, from com- + Latin pater.

Cognate with Galician and Spanish compadre, Catalan and Italian compare.

Pronunciation

[edit]  

• (Brazil) IPA(key): /kõˈpa.dɾi/

• (Brazil) IPA(key): /kõˈpa.dɾi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /kõˈpa.dɾe/

• (Portugal) IPA(key): /kõˈpa.dɾɨ/ [kõˈpa.ðɾɨ]

• Hyphenation: com‧pa‧dre

Noun

[edit]

compadre m (plural compadres, feminine comadre, feminine plural comadres)

1. godfather of one’s child; father of one’s godchild
2. father of one's child's spouse; co-father-in-law Synonym: consogro
3. (familiar) a close friend; compadre Synonyms: amigo, camarada, companheiro

Related terms

[edit]

• padre

Descendants

[edit]

• → Kadiwéu: inigompaadile

See also

[edit]

• comadre

Further reading

[edit]

• “compadre”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “compadre”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

• IPA(key): /komˈpadɾe/ [kõmˈpa.ð̞ɾe]
• Rhymes: -adɾe
• Syllabification: com‧pa‧dre

Etymology 1

[edit]

Inherited from Old Spanish cuémpadre, from Late Latin compatrem, from com- + Latin pater (“father”). Dialectal cumpa is a doublet.

Noun

[edit]

compadre m (plural compadres, feminine comadre, feminine plural comadres)

1. godfather of one's child Coordinate term: (feminine form) comadre
2. parent of one's godchild
3. friend, especially a very close and honoured male friend
4. (colloquial) father of one's child's spouse Synonym: consuegro
5. (Mexico) binge or partying habitual companion Synonym: amigote
6. (Argentina) person of the generation whose parents fought in Argentina's war of independence from Spain.[1]
7. (Nicaragua, colloquial) the relation between a man and his wife's lover, or in the case of divorce, the relation between the previous and current husband (in general, the relation between two men who have been involved with the same woman)

Usage notes

[edit]

• In Spanish, compadre and padrino are not synonyms. A padrino is one's own godfather, whereas a compadre is the godfather of one's child or the father of one's godchild.

Derived terms

[edit]

• compa
• compadrar
• compadrazgo
• compadrito

Related terms

[edit]

• padre

Descendants

[edit]

• → Belizean Creole: kompaajreh
• → Chamicuro: kumpali
• → English: compadre
• → Tagalog: kompadre, kumpadre ⇒ kumpare, kompare ⇒ pare, pre, par
• → Taos: kumpàyliʼína
• → Zacatepec Chatino: mpaà

See also

[edit]

• comadre

Etymology 2

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

compadre

1. inflection of compadrar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

References

[edit]

1. ^ “Tango Vancouver.com Tango dance history, Argentina's Gauchos, Compadres and Compadritos”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[1], 15 April 2008 (last accessed), archived from the original on 29 June 2008

Further reading

[edit]

• “compadre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025