Mate is a colloquialism used to refer to a friend and is commonly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It is or has been used interchangeably with many equivalent terms, such as buddy (popular in United States/Canada), pal (Scottish), or bro (New Zealand). It is sometimes abbreviated to M8.[1]
Mate is a colloquialism with German or English origins. It is theorised that it started with use by dock workers in the Victorian era. It might also be derived from the Dutch word maat which means "friend".