Word.ws English Dictionary

co-father

co-father noun: a person in the relationship of a godfather to the other god-parents, and the legal parents, of a child.

Noun

co-father (plural co-fathers)

  1. (obsolete) A person in the relationship of a godfather to the other god-parents, and the legal parents, of a child.
    • A man invites a good friend, or an important man who might help him, to become his co-father.1967, Charles Wagley, Joao José Rescála, Amazon town, page 153
  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.2008, Elizabeth Rudd, Lara Descartes, The changing landscape of work and family in the American middle class, page 165
    Synonyms:
    stepfather

Verb

co-father (third-person singular simple present co-fathers, present participle co-fathering, simple past and past participle co-fathered)

  1. (figuratively) To co-create
    • 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.1986, Joseph Beam, “Introduction”, in In The Life

Synonyms of co-father

Forms of co-father

Noun
pluralco-fathers
Verb
third-person singular presentco-fathers
present participleco-fathering
past participleco-fathered
pastco-fathered

Origin of co-father

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

Questions about co-father

What does co-father mean?
Co-father means a person in the relationship of a godfather to the other god-parents, and the legal parents, of a child.
What part of speech is co-father?
Co-father can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of co-father?
The plural of co-father is co-fathers.

Words near co-father in the dictionary

  1. co-express
  2. co-expressed
  3. co-expresses
  4. co-expressing
  5. co-extensive
  6. co-father
  7. co-father-in-law
  8. co-fathers
  9. co-fathers-in-law
  10. co-fed
  11. co-feed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: co-father (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “co-father.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/co-father. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.