Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(S.Afr.) a friend, a pal, a mate; also as a form of address.

[1945		D.J. Coetzee Juwele onder die stof 81: Jy en jou chommie].
1962		Paton & Shah Sponono I i: What about you chommies out there in Victoriatown?
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 105: When he is ‘hotting it up’ with his ‘chommies’, or ‘chovers’, it means he is going on the spree with his pals.
1977		C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 40: My broer’s chommie’s got one.
1982		P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 19: All my chommies went.
1985		B. Simon ‘Outers’ Born in the RSA (1997) 44: You see this chommy he promised me and he kept his word.
1996		CyberBraai Lex. at www.matriots.com 🌐 If you use your new neighbor’s words, it won’t be long before you are chommies.
2002		Herald Online (S. Afr.) 10 Sept. 🌐 For those not versed with South Africanisms, the dictionary will help to clear things up. Like this unfathomable sentence: ‘I was in the dwang after the kêrels bust me and a chommie with insangu.’ Translated it means: ‘I was in trouble after the police bust a friend and me with cannabis.’.
2005		A. Lovejoy Acid Alex 66: John invited me to [...] spend a weekend at his parents’ pozzie, where I met his two closest chommies.
2011		Cape Argus Weekend 12 Mar. 7/2: I hit the children with bricks and the other chommie, Zane, threw them in the bushes.
2011		Sowetan (Johannesburg) 24 June 🌐 Chomee, have you heard about the findings of the latest research.