comadre

Galician

Etymology

From Late Latin commāter, from com- (“together”) + māter (“mother”). Cognate with Catalan and Italian comare, Neapolitan cummà, Sicilian cummari, Spanish and Portuguese comadre, French commère, Norman conméthe, Romanian cumătră.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [koˈmaðɾɪ]
• Hyphenation: co‧ma‧dre

Noun

comadre f (plural comadres)

1. midwife
2. the godmother of one's child
3. the mother of one's godchild
4. a very dear and honoured female friend; cummer
5. (humorous, mildly derogatory) gossipmonger

Related terms

• madre

See also

• compadre

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “comadre”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “comadre”, 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), “comadre”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “comadre”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Portuguese

Etymology

From Late Latin commāter, from com- (“together”) + māter (“mother”). Cognate with Catalan and Italian comare, Neapolitan cummà, Sicilian cummari, Galician and Spanish comadre, French commère, Norman conméthe, Romanian cumătră.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /koˈma.dɾi/, /kuˈma.dɾi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /koˈma.dɾi/, /kuˈma.dɾi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /koˈma.dɾe/

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

• Hyphenation: co‧ma‧dre

Noun

comadre f (plural comadres, masculine compadre, masculine plural compadres)

1. midwife
2. the godmother of one's child
3. the mother of one's godchild
4. a very dear and honoured female friend
5. gossip

Related terms

• madre

Descendants

• Kadiwéu: inigomaadile

See also

• madrinha
• padrinho
• confrade

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin commāter, from com- (“together”) + māter (“mother”). Cognate with Catalan and Italian comare, Neapolitan cummà, Sicilian cummari, Galician and Portuguese comadre, French commère, Norman conméthe, Romanian cumătră.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /koˈmadɾe/ [koˈma.ð̞ɾe]
• Rhymes: -adɾe
• Syllabification: co‧ma‧dre

Noun

comadre f (plural comadres)

1. midwife

   Synonym: partera

2. the godmother of one's child

   Synonym: madrina

3. the mother of one's godchild
4. a very dear and honoured female friend; sister
5. (colloquial) a female gossipper, busybody
6. (colloquial) go-between
7. female equivalent of compadre

Derived terms

• comadreja

 

Related terms

• madre

 

Descendants

• → Belizean Creole: komaajreh

See also

• comadrona f
• compadre m
• madrina f
• partera f

Further reading

• “comadre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10