Kamerad

Borrowed from French camarade in the 16th century, ultimately from Latin camera (“chamber”), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára).

• IPA^(key): /kaməˈʁaːt/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: Ka‧me‧rad
• Rhymes: -aːt

Kamerad m (weak, genitive Kameraden, plural Kameraden, feminine Kameradin)

1. (military) comrade (fellow soldier)
2. comrade (fellow, companion)
   • 1929, Horst Wessel (lyrics and music), “Horst-Wessel-Lied (Nazi Party anthem 1930–1945)”:

     Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, / Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit.

     Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries / March in spirit within our ranks.

   • 2010, Richard Stöss, Rechtsextremismus im Wandel‎^[1], 3rd edition, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, page 123:

     Ezer und seine Kameraden strebten eine parteiunabhängige Kaderorganisation an, die gewissermaßen als politischer Arm der rechtsextremen Subkulturen und Kameradschaften fungieren sollte.

     Ezer and his comrades aimed to create a non-partisan cadre organisation that would act as a kind of political arm of the right-wing extremist subcultures and comradeships.

3. (colloquial) guy, fellow

• Does not carry the association with socialism or communism that comrade has in English or its cognates in other languages (see Genosse for the German equivalent).
  • On the contrary, due to its primary usage as a military term, it is used as a term of address among right wing groups and can be used as a moniker for their members. However, the association is not inherent to the word itself, which is a neutral term in regular usage, but rather understood from context.
• Kamerad has historically been used as a truce or surrender word.

• Arbeitskamerad
• Hitlerkamerad
• Kameradschaft
• Klassenkamerad
• Schulkamerad
• Sportkamerad

• → Polish: kamrat
• → Silesian: kamrat

• Waffengefährte

• “Kamerad” in Duden online
• “Kamerad” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache