Mate is a colloquialism used to refer to a friend and is commonly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland. It is or has been used interchangeably with many equivalent terms, such as buddy (popular in United States/Canada), pal (Scottish) or cobber (Australian/New Zealand only - originally derived from Yiddish, now rare). Mate is a colloquialism with sketchy origins, although it is theorised that it started with use by dock workers in the Victorian era.

It might also be derived from the Dutch word "maat" which means the same as mate in English. In Australia, the use of "mate" and the subsequent concept of "mateship", conceptualised a widespread egalitarian ethos, especially among working class white males.[citation needed]

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