The term compadre (Spanish: [komˈpaðɾe], Portuguese: [kõˈpaðɾɨ], literally "co-father" or "co-parent"), known in Slavic countries as kum (Russian and Ukrainian: кум, Ukrainian pronunciation: [kum]; masculine derived from Balkan Vulgar Latin cómmater - "godmother") denotes the relationship between the parents and godparents of a child and is an important bond that originates when a child is baptised. It is widespread in Iberian, Latin American, Filipino Christian and Indian Goan Christian Brahmin families, as well as in some countries of Eastern Europe, such as Russia and Ukraine.
The abstract nouns compadrazgo (Spanish and Filipino) and compadrio (Portuguese), both meaning "co-parenthood," are sometimes used to refer to the institutional relationship between compadres. The analogous words in Eastern Slavic languages are kumovstvo (Russian: кумовство, Russian pronunciation: [kʊmɐfstˈvo]) or kumivstvo (Ukrainian: кумівство, Ukrainian pronunciation: [kʊˈmʲiu̯stwɔ]).
At the moment of baptism, the godparents and natural parents become each other's compadres (the plural form compadres includes both male and female co-parents). The female equivalent of compadre is comadre (Spanish: [koˈmaðɾe], Portuguese: [kuˈmaðɾɨ]). Thus, the child's father will call the child's godmother "comadre," while she will call him "compadre," and so on. In Slavic languages the analogous word is kuma (Ukrainian and Russian: кума, Ukrainian pronunciation: [kʊˈma]), from which the masculine form of the word is derived.
In Portugal, the term is colloquially also used to refer to the parents of both parts of a couple.