# companion

> English word · Noun · IPA /kəmˈpæn.jən/ · frequency rank #5,772

## Definitions
1. A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies
2. A person employed to accompany or travel with another.
3. The framework on the quarterdeck of a sailing ship through which daylight entered the cabins below.
4. The covering of a hatchway on an upper deck which leads to the companionway; the stairs themselves.
5. A knot in whose neighborhood another, specified knot meets every meridian disk.
6. A thing or phenomenon that is closely associated with another thing, phenomenon, or person.
7. An appended source of media or information, designed to be used in conjunction with and to enhance the main material.
8. A celestial object that is associated with another.
9. A knight of the lowest rank in certain orders.
10. A fellow; a rogue.

## Etymology
From Middle English companion, from Old French compaignon (“companion”) (modern French compagnon), from Late Latin compāniōn- (nominative singular compāniō, whence French copain), from com- + pānis (literally, with + bread), a word first attested in the Frankish Lex Salica as a calque of a Germanic word, probably Frankish *galaibo, *gahlaibō (“messmate”, literally “with-bread”), from Proto-Germanic *gahlaibô. Compare also Old High German galeipo (“messmate”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌰 (gahlaiba, “messmate”); and, for the semantics, compare Old Armenian ընկեր (ənker, “friend”, literally “messmate”). More at co-, loaf. Displaced native Old English ġefēra (literally “fellow traveler”). Compare company and mate.

## Easily confused with
- **comparison** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/companion-vs-comparison)
- **compassion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/companion-vs-compassion)
- **companions** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/companion-vs-companions)
- **companies** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/companies-vs-companion)
- **communion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/communion-vs-companion)

## Common misspellings (13)
`ccompanion`, `cmopanion`, `comapnion`, `commpanion`, `compainon`, `companino`, `companionn`, `compannion`, `companoin`, `compnaion`, `comppanion`, `copmanion`, `ocmpanion`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/companion