buddy

Meaning

1. A friend or casual acquaintance.
2. A partner for a particular activity.
3. An informal and friendly address to a stranger, usually male; a friendly (or occasionally antagonistic) placeholder name for a person one does not know.

pal

comrade

close friend

old fellow

intimate friend

play mate

Comrade

sworn brother

inseparable friend

trusted companion

boon companion

fellow-thinker

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbʌd.i/

First appears c. 1788, in the writings of Charles Dibdin. Possibly from *bruddy, *bruthy, a child-talk alteration of brother. Alternatively, perhaps from British colloquial butty (“companion”), also the form of an older dialect term meaning workmate, associated with coal mining. Itself believed derived from 1530 as booty fellow, a partner with whom one shares booty or loot.

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