Matey

adj, name, noun, slang

adj, name, noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Diminutive of mate, friend. diminutive, form-of, informal

    "Hello, matey, just back from the pub?"

  2. 2
    A fellow sailor; often used affectedly, especially when portraying a pirate. slang

    "Ahoy mateys, scrub the deck!"

  3. 3
    A dockyard worker. slang

    "He got the dockyard 'mateys' to install a primitive form of steam heating which he had seen in Navy ships […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Sociable or friendly. UK

    "You've been very matey with that new bird."

Adjective
  1. 1
    (used colloquially) having the relationship of friends or pals wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from the Slavic languages.

Example

More examples

"Matey is a lavender faroese sheepdog puppy with aqua blue eyes and a pink nose."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From mate + -y.

Etymology 2

Variant spelling of Matej.

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