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SPANISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

mate.

matte (not reflective of light)

4 characters2 syllables approx.Español language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈmate/[ˈma.t̪e]
  1. matte (not reflective of light)

    feminine · masculine
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from French mat, mate.

noun/ˈmate/[ˈma.t̪e]
  1. mate, checkmate

    masculine
  2. a hand gesture

    El-Salvador · Guatemala · Honduras · Nicaragua · colloquial · masculine
    Siempre me dan gracia sus mates.
  3. a feint; something feigned; a simulation

    El-Salvador · Guatemala · Honduras · Nicaragua · colloquial · masculine
  4. a gesture that hints something

    El-Salvador · Guatemala · Honduras · Nicaragua · colloquial · masculine
Where this word comes from

From jaque mate (“checkmate”), from Arabic شَاه مَاتَ (šāh māta), from Persian شاه مات (šâh mât, “the king [is] dead”).

noun/ˈmate/[ˈma.t̪e]
  1. maté (the drink prepared from yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis))

    masculine
  2. a hollow gourd or cup in which maté is traditionally served

    masculine
  3. yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), a plant used to make maté

    masculine
  4. head (top part of the body)

    colloquial · masculine
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Quechua mati.

adj/ˈmate/[ˈma.t̪e]
  1. tan, tanned (skin colour)

    South-America · feminine · masculine
Where this word comes from

Possibly from mate in the sense of "dull" or "not reflective of light."

noun/ˈmate/[ˈma.t̪e]
  1. math / maths

    colloquial · feminine
Where this word comes from

Clipping of matemática.

noun/ˈmate/[ˈma.t̪e]
  1. dunk, slam dunk (the act of dunking: put the ball directly downward through the hoop while grabbing onto the rim with power)

    masculine
Where this word comes from

Deverbal from matar (“kill”).

verb/ˈmate/[ˈma.t̪e]
  1. inflection of matar: first/third-person singular present subjunctive

    first-person · form-of · present · singular · subjunctive · third-person
  2. inflection of matar: third-person singular imperative

    form-of · imperative · singular · third-person
Where this word comes from

Deverbal from matar (“kill”).

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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.