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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Want to save even more, comrade?—K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 1 May 2026 Musk is trying a number of tactics to inflict pain on his old comrades.—Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 28 Apr. 2026 Syrian authorities on Friday arrested Amjad Yousef, a former intelligence officer who appeared in a video leaked four years ago that appears to show him and his comrades executing dozens of blindfolded and shackled prisoners in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon during the civil war.—Ghaith Alsayed, Los Angeles Times, 26 Apr. 2026 Syrian authorities on Friday arrested Amjad Yousef, a former intelligence officer who appeared in a video leaked four years ago that purportedly showed him and his comrades executing dozens of blindfolded and shackled prisoners in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon during the country’s civil war.—ABC News, 26 Apr. 2026 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