In Latin, camara or camera denoted a vaulted ceiling or roof. Later, the word simply mean “room, chamber” and was inherited by many European languages with that meaning. In the Spanish, the word became cámara, and a derivative of that was camarada “a group of soldiers quartered in a room” and hence “fellow soldier, companion.” That Spanish word was borrowed into French as camarade and then into Elizabethan English as both camerade and comerade.
He enjoys spending time with his old army comrades.
the boy, and two others who are known to be his comrades, are wanted for questioning by the police
Recent Examples on the WebThere’s obviously his old Velvet Underground comrade Lou Reed, while Mercy also had elegies mourning David Bowie and Nico.—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2024 After two inattentive supervisors leave a group of miners trapped underground following a methane explosion during a Valentine’s Day dance, one miner must cannibalize his deceased comrades to survive until he is freed from the shaft — a week later.—Brooke Knisley, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2024 The piracy of the Houthis on global shipping in the Red Sea is part of this war, as is Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel while their Hamas comrades do the same from Gaza.—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2024 As now-centenarian veterans revisit old memories and fallen comrades buried in Normandy graves, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presence at the D-Day commemorations with world leaders who are supporting Ukraine fused World War II’s awful past with the fraught present.—Danica Kirka, The Denver Post, 6 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for comrade
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'comrade.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle French camarade group sleeping in one room, roommate, companion, from Old Spanish camarada, from cámara room, from Late Latin camera, camara — more at chamber
Share