mate
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/2
Friend is the neutral, all-purpose word for someone you like and know well — it works in any register and any region. Companion is more formal and suggests sharing experiences (a travel companion, a dinner companion) rather than emotional closeness. Buddy is the American English equivalent of mate: informal, often used among men, and conveys a sense of easygoing familiarity ("my golf buddy"). Mate overlaps with buddy in being informal, but it is strongly associated with British, Australian and New Zealand English. While a buddy is usually someone you do activities with, a mate can also be someone you live with (flatmate, roommate). In American English, using mate for a friend can sound deliberately British or old-fashioned. Example: "I'm meeting a friend for lunch" (neutral); "He's my golf buddy" (American, informal); "We've been mates since primary school" (British/Australian, informal).
Common collocations
Etymology
Mate comes from an old Germanic word *matôn that meant 'to share food at the same table', which was formed from *matiz ('food'). The word meat originally had the same source and meant 'food' in general before it narrowed to mean animal flesh. From the idea of sharing a meal, mate grew to mean a person you share something with — first a table, then a home, a workplace, or a ship. The animal-breeding sense developed later from the idea of pairing or joining.