comadre

Galician

Etymology

Attested since the 15th century. From Late Latin commater, commatrem, from Latin mater.

Cognate with Portuguese comadre, Spanish comadre, Catalan comare and Italian comare.

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

• “comadre” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “comadre” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “comadre” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “comadre” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Late Latin commatrem, from Latin mater.

Cognate with Catalan comare, Extremaduran comairi, French commère, Galician comadre, Italian comare, Mirandese cumadre, and Spanish comadre.

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.dɾ(ɨ)/ [kuˈma.ðɾ(ɨ)]

• 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

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Spanish

Etymology

From Late Latin commater, commatrem, from Latin mater.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /koˈmadɾe/ [koˈma.ð̞ɾe]
• Rhymes: -adɾe
• 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
5. gossip
6. (colloquial) go-between

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, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014