shipmate

S1H4I1P3M3A1T1E1
/ˈʃɪpˌmeɪt/obsolete/ˈʃɪpmɪt/

noun

A fellow sailor serving on the same ship as another.

UncommonScrabble 15

Meanings

nounshipmate (plural shipmates)

plural shipmates

  1. nauticalA fellow sailor serving on the same ship as another.

    But the feeling certainly does not extend to a shipmate who dobs his cobber in for a draft from a happy ship!

    1960, J. E. Macdonnell, Don't Gimme the Ships, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 49
    1 more example

    "And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "Black Dog as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, at the 'Admiral Benbow' inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, since I lost them two talons," holding up his mutilated hand.

    1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
  2. informalnauticalAny sailor (when used as a form of address by a sailor).

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sek-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*skey-der.?
  3. Proto-Germanic*skipą
  4. Proto-West Germanic*skip
  5. Old Englishscip
  6. Middle Englishschip
  7. Englishship
  8. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  9. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  10. Proto-Germanic*ga-
  11. Proto-Germanic*matiz
  12. Proto-Germanic*matjô
  13. Proto-West Germanic*gamatjô
  14. Old Saxongimato
  15. Middle Low Germanmate
  16. Middle Englishmate
  17. Englishmate
  18. Englishshipmate

From ship + -mate.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

shipmate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shipmate

MLA

“shipmate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shipmate. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shipmate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shipmate.

Source: shipmate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.