Other forms: counterparts
A counterpart is the person or thing matching another elsewhere. Her French counterpart, the counterpart in Berlin, no counterpart exists.
It is the standard word in diplomacy and business for the person holding the same post in another organisation, which is a useful thing to be able to say in one word. The original sense is legal: a counterpart is the duplicate half of an indenture, and the two copies were matched by their cut edges.
1nouncounterpartThe person or thing matching another elsewhere.
“The Spanish foreign minister met her French counterpart in Paris.”
counterpart is a matching equivalent.
Counter- plus part, after Old French contrepartie, the matching copy of a legal document. Contra and part are the two halves of it.
Middle English
conterpart
English, today
counterpart
Built from
From Middle English conterpart, countre parte (“duplicate of a legal document”), equivalent to counter- + part. Compare Old French contrepartie, itself from contre (“facing, opposite”) (from Latin contra (“against”)) + partie (“copy of a person or thing”) (originally past participle of partīre (“to divide”)).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA