Etymology

fellow traveller

Today it means: One who travels together with another. Full definition →

First used mid-20th c.Russian попутчик
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The story

  1. Russian · calque ofпопутчик
  2. English todayfellow traveller

For sense 2: calque of Russian попутчик (poputčik).

First known use, by meaning

  • mid-20th c. One who sympathizes with the aims or beliefs of an organization without belonging to it; especially a Communist sympathizer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.