A partner is the individual who is accompanied by another for some purpose. The bond that is established between partners is known as companionship. The effect of accompanying (being with another living being, adding something to something else, existing with it), on the other hand, is called company.
For example: “Tomorrow I’m going to have dinner with my coworkers”, “Juan Carlos is a colleague from the university who is looking for a job, could you help him?” , “I am very proud: my son was chosen as the best classmate in his class”.
The individuals that make up a community or a body are partners, as are the players that make up a team and who help each other to achieve a common goal: “Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi have been partners for many years”, ” A team can only succeed when there is solidarity between teammates ”, “ Two teammates beat each other in training ”.
In the field of politics, a colleague is defined as one with whom an ideology or a movement is shared: “More than 2,000 colleagues participated in the last open party assembly”, “A colleague who makes criticisms of this type does not deserve be part of this current ”.
On a colloquial level, the person with whom one lives in marriage is usually described as a partner: “My partner works until late at night, but I always wait for him with food prepared to have dinner together. “
The term can be used to name people who suffer the same fate: “Pablo is my partner in misfortunes, we always face problems together”, “I don’t want you to hang out with your drinking partners anymore. “
It is common to find expressions such as a companion of adventures, travel or life, among others, and all refer to those living beings with whom we share the most important moments, both the most beautiful and the most difficult. In general, the first interpretation of these terms usually points to a human being, although there are many cases of friendships between individuals of different species: we also call a dog, a cat or a horse companion, for example.
The word companion represents one of those cases in the Spanish language in which there is a wide range of nuances that can considerably affect the meaning of a sentence, depending on the context. Talking about a co-worker is, for many people, simply mentioning someone who performs their work tasks in the same physical space and with the same hours as us; however, for some, this term is only used if there is an affective bond involved, and their alternative when there is no such union is colleague.
We speak of a good companion, on the other hand, to refer to a series of attitudes typical of a person or animal that tries by all means to promote the well-being of those around them, whether in a work environment, student or in a relationship friendship or partner. For example, a good classmate worries if someone misses class, and tries to find out if something bad has happened to him, in addition to providing notes and commenting on whether the teachers have sent homework or if they have announced an exam.
In some countries, it is possible to use the term companion as a synonym for lifelong friend, without the need for clarifications such as “on adventure” or “on life.” On the other hand, its use is also common to avoid the words partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, when there is a certain fear of pronouncing them in front of people outside the relationship, especially by homosexual people in heterosexual environments, because of the oppression that generates homophobia.
