What does "co-father" mean?

A person in the relationship of a godfather to the other god-parents, and the legal parents, of a child.

What is a synonym for "co-father"?

Common synonyms include: compadre, compère, gossip, stepfather.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A person in the relationship of a godfather to the other god-parents, and the legal parents, of a child. obsolete
"A man invites a good friend, or an important man who might help him, to become his co-father."
2
In a male homosexual couple, the nonbiological father (partner of the biological father) of a child.
"gay co-fathers and their children are never sure of finding acceptance in straight communities."

Verb

1
To co-create figuratively
"Together, we, the contributors gathered here, have co-fathered a child — and it's a boy. He is strong and healthy and eager to be in this world."

"A man invites a good friend, or an important man who might help him, to become his co-father."

From co- + father, in sense 1 as a calque of Latin compater, French compère.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.