Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An intermediary; a go-between.
  • noun A native-born agent in China and certain other Asian countries formerly employed by a foreign business to serve as a collaborator or intermediary in commercial transactions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Hong Kong and the treaty ports of China, a native agent or manager employed by foreign business houses as an intermediary in dealing with the natives, and as a general adviser and factotum. The comprador engages and is answerable for all the native employees of the firm.
  • noun A store-keeper or ship-chandler in the ports of China and the Indian archipelago.
  • noun A steward or butler in a private family.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun China A kind of steward or agent.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An intermediary.
  • noun A native of a colonised country who acts as the agent of the coloniser.
  • noun nautical A ship's chandler in the Far East.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Portuguese, from Late Latin comparātor, buyer, from Latin comparāre, to buy : com-, com- + parāre, to get; see perə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Portuguese comprador ("buyer"), from comprar ("to buy") + -dor ("(agent)"), from Latin comparō ("I buy").

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Examples

  • In India too, the term comprador is increasingly used not only by ideologues of the ML movement but also by many other economists and political commentators, not to suggest that the Indian bourgeoisie lacks any manufacturing muscle but to emphasise the growing and open pro-imperialist tilt in the economic policies of the Indian state and increasing organic integration between the Indian big business and the imperialist global capital.

    The Three Contemporary Currents among Indian Communists Abhay N 2007

  • Paul Baron (1957) uses the term comprador bourgeoisie which originates from the dependency theory.

    News Mana Prasad Wagley 2010

  • Anil Biswas sticks to this roots of the word comprador, and uses a single sentence quoted from the 6th Congress of the Comintern avoiding the main formulations of the Comintern to buttress his argument.

    A Maoist critique of the CPI(Marxist) Abhay N 2007

  • However much the CPIM may try to restrict the meaning of the word comprador to the original Comintern usage, the whole world knows that the word has evolved since then.

    The Three Contemporary Currents among Indian Communists Abhay N 2007

  • This is the traditional meaning of the word comprador whose origin was Portuguese meaning ‘purchaser’ and coming into use to refer to a local merchants acting as a middleman between foreign producers and a local market.

    A Maoist critique of the CPI(Marxist) Abhay N 2007

  • To tell the truth, then the bourgeoisie of many European countries are to be called comprador bourgeoisie for their keeping close relations with and partial dependence on imperialist capital….p.19

    A Maoist critique of the CPI(Marxist) Abhay N 2007

  • In his over-statement through the generalization of the non-comprador character of the third world's big bourgeoisie and their 'genuine independence' he foolishly challenges the Maoists: "To tell the truth, then the bourgeoisie of many European countries are to be called comprador bourgeoisie for their keeping close relation with and partial dependence on imperialist capital".

    Fake Independence and the Mercurial Stance of Undivided Communist Party: CPM’s Hotchpotch View on Semi Colony and Neo colony Abhay N 2007

  • To tell the truth, then the bourgeoisie of many European countries are to be called comprador bourgeoisie for their keeping close relations with and partial dependence on imperialist capital….p.19

    Fake Independence and the Mercurial Stance of Undivided Communist Party: CPM’s Hotchpotch View on Semi Colony and Neo colony Abhay N 2007

  • A comprador was a facilitator, a man who could move easily in the Asian community but understood the business ways of the Europeans.

    City of Glory Beverly Swerling 2007

  • A comprador was a facilitator, a man who could move easily in the Asian community but understood the business ways of the Europeans.

    City of Glory Beverly Swerling 2007

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