compère

See also: compere

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French compère.

Noun

compère (plural compères)

1. (chiefly British) Alternative form of compere
   • 1967, Michael Glenny, chapter 12, in The Master and Margarita, translation of Мастер и Маргарита by Mikhail Bulgakov, published 1938, →ISBN, page 142:

     It was Moscow’s best known compère, George Bengalsky.

   • 1984, Max Atkinson, Our Masters' Voices, page 27:

     The fact that compères routinely wait no more and no less than eight seconds before interrupting means that they decide at just that point that an audience has been clapping long enough, [...]

   • 2004-2005, Paul Ginsborg, Silvio Berlusconi, page 48:

     Suddenly compères were sipping coffee in the middle of their shows, [...]

Verb

compère (third-person singular simple present compères, present participle compèring, simple past and past participle compèred)

1. Alternative form of compere

Anagrams

• compeer, precome

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French comper, from Old French comper, conper, from Late Latin compatrem (“godfather”), from Latin com- + pater.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.pɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʁ

Noun

compère m (plural compères)

1. partner, accomplice
2. (obsolete) the godfather of one's child or the father of one's godchild

   Coordinate term: commère

Derived terms

• compérage

Related terms

• père

Descendants

• → Belizean Creole: kompeh
• → English: compere, compère
• → Greek: κομπέρ (kompér)

Further reading

• “compère”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.