In Latin, camara or camera denoted a vaulted ceiling or roof. Later, the word simply mean “room, chamber” and was inherited by many European languages with that meaning. In the Spanish, the word became cámara, and a derivative of that was camarada “a group of soldiers quartered in a room” and hence “fellow soldier, companion.” That Spanish word was borrowed into French as camarade and then into Elizabethan English as both camerade and comerade.
He enjoys spending time with his old army comrades.
the boy, and two others who are known to be his comrades, are wanted for questioning by the police
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With Assad's ouster in December, Halaby, now 29, returned to his neighborhood of Jobar, on the edge of Damascus, to watch a backhoe unearth the remains of at least eight of his comrades from a mass grave.—Lauren Frayer, NPR, 15 Apr. 2025 Another seems to half-pass out, either from exhaustion or shock, while tending to a wounded comrade.—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025 The pair also interviewed several former SEAL comrades for the script.—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2025 Diehard fans of the show will be even happier to see that comrade Brasso is back and seemingly ready to crack many more stormtrooper helmets.—Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 24 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for comrade
Word History
Etymology
Middle French camarade group sleeping in one room, roommate, companion, from Old Spanish camarada, from cámara room, from Late Latin camera, camara — more at chamber
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