Etymologically
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camarade

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:02. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ka.ma.ʁad/[1]

Forms

camarade m or f by sense (plural camarades)[1] Feminine when it meant a barrack room; in the 16th and 17th centuries also camerade, the form Malherbe used.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish camarada (“barrack room; comrade”), from cámara (“room”), corresponding to French chambre.[2][5][3][6][7][1] Italian camerata probably influenced the form “camerade”.[2][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before 1571 Vincent Carloix uses it, as a feminine noun and “in the Spanish manner”, for a room of soldiers: la vieille qui blanchissoit le linge de sa camarade.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “one who shares another's lot” appears in La Noue (1587), of Spanish infantrymen, and the barrack-room sense died out in the 17th century; it then became masculine according to its sense.[2][5][3] Camarade de classe is from 1758, and as a familiar form of address it is now dated.[5] In politics, in socialist and communist parties and trade unions, it is the usual form of address between members (Coppée, 1869), and in a Soviet context it translated Russian tovarishch.[2][5] English comrade was borrowed from French in the 1590s.[8] Camaraderie is in Madame de Sévigné (1671).[5]

Timeline

  • before 1571 – A barrack room, Carloix.[2]
  • 1587 – A comrade, La Noue.[2]
  • 1590s – English comrade.[8]
  • 1671 – Camaraderie, Madame de Sévigné.[5]
  • 1758 – Camarade de classe.[5]
  • 1869 – A political comrade, Coppée.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A companion, fellow (at work, school, etc.): camarade de classe, camarade d'enfance.[9][5]
  2. A friend, mate.[9][1]
  3. A familiar form of address: eh ! camarade.[9]
  4. A comrade, a fellow member of a socialist or communist party or a union: le camarade X.[1][5]

Word family

  • camaraderie
  • camarader
  • camaro

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 134a
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse