Other forms: playmates
A playmate is a child somebody regularly plays with. A childhood playmate, find a playmate, an imaginary playmate.
It is slightly old-fashioned, and modern parents say friend. Note that Playmate with a capital letter is a magazine's term for a model, which is why the word is used carefully about children in some contexts.
1nounplaymateA child somebody regularly plays with.
“As a little girl, her favourite playmate was the boy next door.”
playmate is a companion.
Play plus mate, replacing an older English word playfeer with the same meaning.
From play + mate. Compare earlier playfeer (“playmate”) of similar construction.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA