companion

Meaning

Noun

1. A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies
2. (dated) A person employed to accompany or travel with another.
3. The framework on the quarterdeck of a sailing ship through which daylight entered the cabins below.
4. The covering of a hatchway on an upper deck which leads to the companionway; the stairs themselves.
5. A knot in whose neighborhood another, specified knot meets every meridian disk.
6. (figuratively) A thing or phenomenon that is closely associated with another thing, phenomenon, or person.
7. (attributive) An appended source of media or information, designed to be used in conjunction with and to enhance the main material.
8. A celestial object that is associated with another.
9. A knight of the lowest rank in certain orders.
10. (derogatory, obsolete) A fellow; a rogue.

Verb

1. (obsolete) To be a companion to; to attend on; to accompany.
2. (obsolete) To qualify as a companion; to make equal.

Synonyms

friend

comrade

partner

associate

mate

🧉

fellow

pal

buddy

company

colleague

attendant

follower

escort

fellow traveler

chum

accompany

ally

close relative

spouse

keep company

other one

acquaintance

familiar

crony

helper

fellow traveller

consort

compeer

chaperon

squire

yokefellow

significant other

servant

cohort

date

📅

intimate

playmate

accompanist

bedfellow

compatriot

adviser

gossip

gallant

cobber

assistant

addressee

firm

girlfriend

figure

club

Translations

compagnon

compañero

Gefährte

Begleiter

companheiro

camarade

compagno

Freund

Genosse

metgezel

σύντροφος

kornuit

maat

Kamerad

company

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kəmˈpænjən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: companion

Cognate with French: compagnon

Cognate with French: copain

Cognate with Old High German: galeipo

Cognate with Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌰

Cognate with Classical Armenian: ընկեր

In summary

From Middle English companion, from Old French compaignon (“companion”) (modern French compagnon), from Late Latin compāniōn- (nominative singular compāniō, whence French copain), from com- + pānis (literally, with + bread), a word first attested in the Frankish Lex Salica as a calque of a Germanic word, probably Frankish *galaibo, *gahlaibō (“messmate”, literally “with-bread”), from Proto-Germanic *gahlaibô. Compare also Old High German galeipo (“messmate”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌰 (gahlaiba, “messmate”); and, for the semantics, compare Old Armenian ընկեր (ənker, “friend”, literally “messmate”). More at co-, loaf. Displaced native Old English ġefēra (literally “fellow traveler”). Compare company and mate.

Sentences

She is the sister of Isis and companion of the war-like deity , Set .

His longtime companion is Sydney Weinberg .