mate

What it means

1. 1.

   A friend, and the default way to address almost any man — and increasingly any person — regardless of acquaintance.

2. 2.

   Delivered flat and clipped, it signals that the speaker is unimpressed and a confrontation may follow.

   Australians navigate the difference effortlessly and by tone alone; visitors frequently do not.

In use

• G'day mate, how's it going?

• He's a good mate of mine from uni.

• Mate. Settle down.

  Note: A warning, not a greeting.

Where it comes from

Inherited from British English but weighted far more heavily in Australia, where mateship is treated as a national value with its own political rhetoric.