goombah.
A person of Italian descent (often implies the person is connected to Italian organized crime)
Meaning & usage
A person of Italian descent (often implies the person is connected to Italian organized crime)
A companion, pal, close friend, or associate, especially among Italian-American men. It sometimes has the connotation of an older friend who acts as a patron, protector or adviser.
Where this word comes from
From Neapolitan cumpà and Sicilian cumpari (“buddy, pal”, akin to Italian compare, Spanish compadre, literally “godfather”), from Latin compater, a word often used to refer to “family friends” or friends close enough to be considered an “aunt” or “uncle”, though not related by blood. To an English-speaking ear, the unaspirated stops of Southern Italian dialects (especially Neapolitan) are interpreted as voiced stops, yielding goombah. Compare South American Spanish cumpa. Doublet of compadre, compeer, and compere.
Alternative form of gumbe, a Jamaican drum.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.