Etymology

flatmate

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Today it means: A person with whom one shares a flat. Full definition →

English mate ← Middle English mate ← Middle Low German mate
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*flataz
  2. Old Norseflatr
  3. Middle Englishflat
  4. Englishflat
  5. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  7. Proto-Germanic*ga-
  8. Proto-Germanic*matiz
  9. Proto-Germanic*matjô
  10. Proto-West Germanic*gamatjô
  11. Old Saxongimato
  12. Middle Low Germanmate
  13. Middle Englishmate
  14. Englishmate
  15. English todayflatmate

From flat + -mate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.