Mates

How to spell mates

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce mates

What does mates mean?

1. nounFriends, companions, or fellow workers (chiefly British and Australian informal usage).
2. nounAnimals paired together for breeding or as life partners.
3. verbPairs with another animal to breed (third person singular).

Mates in a sentence

• noun

  He met his old school mates at the pub for the reunion.

• noun

  Swans often keep the same mates for many years.

• verb

  This species mates only once a year in the spring.

• noun

  My work mates chipped in to buy a leaving gift.

• noun

  The zoo introduced two potential mates for the rare tigress.

• verb

  The breeder records when each stallion mates with a mare.

Where does mates come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word goes back to the Middle English mate, which English took in the 1300s from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch mate, gemate, meaning 'a companion at table' or 'one who eats with you'. That sense traces to an old Germanic root tied to 'meat' in its older meaning of 'food', so a mate was literally someone who shared your food. From there it broadened to mean any companion, helper, or working partner aboard ship, and later a marriage or breeding partner. The plural mates simply adds the regular -s ending, and the same -s also forms the third-person verb 'mates'. Because the root is solidly Germanic, the spelling is phonetic and free of silent traps.

How the word is built

• mate (companion, partner)
• -s (plural / third-person verb suffix)