Meanings
nounfirst mate (plural first mates)
plural first mates
- An officer on a merchant ship next in rank to the captain and responsible to the captain for the safety and security of the ship.
Synonyms: chief officer, chief mate, first officer
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn officer on a merchant ship next in rank to the captain and responsible to the captain for the safety and security of the ship.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Chinese Cantonese 大偈
- 大偈 (daai⁶ gai²)nautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Chinese Mandarin 大副
- 大副 (dàfù)nautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Dutch eerste stuurman
- eerste stuurmannautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Finnish perämies, ensimmäinen perämies
- perämiesnautical: officer next in rank to the captain
- ensimmäinen perämiesnautical: officer next in rank to the captain
- yliperämiesnautical: officer next in rank to the captain
French second, second capitaine
- secondnautical: officer next in rank to the captain
- second capitainenautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Greek ύπαρχος
- ύπαρχος (ýparchos)nautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Irish ardmháta, céad mháta
- ardmhátanautical: officer next in rank to the captain
- céad mhátanautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Italian secondo di bordo, seconda di bordo
- secondo di bordonautical: officer next in rank to the captain
- seconda di bordonautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Portuguese imediato
- imediatonautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Russian помо́щник капита́на
- помо́щник капита́на (pomóščnik kapitána)nautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Spanish primer oficial de cubierta, primera oficial de cubierta
- primer oficial de cubiertanautical: officer next in rank to the captain
- primera oficial de cubiertanautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Swedish förste styrman
- förste styrmannautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Turkish ikinci kaptan
- ikinci kaptannautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Vietnamese thuyền phó
- thuyền phónautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Welsh mêt, mêts
- mêtnautical: officer next in rank to the captain
- mêtsnautical: officer next in rank to the captain
Cite this entry
APA
first mate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20mate
MLA
“first mate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20mate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “first mate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20mate.
Source: first mate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.