Note: ‘Mate’ is also used to refer to one of the pair of animals that are engaged in breeding — a male and a female paired to have sex to produce babies, e.g. ‘It is surprising to know that in some kinds of birds and animals, a pair stays as mates for life, i.e. normally, male and female in most kinds of birds and animals live together for only one breeding season and when the babies grow up and leave them, they also separate from each other, but in some kinds a pair lives together and has babies year after year without breaking up after they have had sex in one season’; and as a verb, it means to join two people of different sexes in marriage; two people, man and woman, join in sex, to be paired, etc., “Several types of birds mate for life, i.e. they live together, have sex and produce babies year after year without breaking up after they have had sex in season.’; for an interesting article that discusses the issue mating for life in birds, please click here. And ‘mate’ is also used to refer to a kind of drink; for an article that explains what a yerba Mate is, please click here.

Note: ‘Mate’, always with a capital ‘M’, is often found in the names of people, e.g. Karen Mate, Andrew Mate, Emma Mate, etc. For an article that explains the origin of this word as a surname/last name/family name, please click here.