counterpart

Recorded since 1451, originally as countre part "duplicate of a legal document", from Old French contrepartie, itself from contre (“facing, opposite”) (from Latin contra (“against”)) + partie (“copy of a person or thing”) (originally past participle of partīre (“to divide”)). Equivalent to counter- +‎ part.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊntəˌpɑːt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊntɚˌpɑɹt/

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counterpart (plural counterparts)

1. Either of two parts that fit together, or complement one another.

   Those brass knobs and their hollow counterparts interlock perfectly

   • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎:

     Mr. Obama never found a generational counterpart among conservatives in Congress like Paul D. Ryan or Eric Cantor; instead, there was a mutual animosity.

2. (law) A duplicate of a legal document.
3. One which resembles another
4. One which has corresponding functions or characteristics.
   • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport‎:

     England's attacking impetus was limited to one shot from Lampard that was comfortably collected by keeper Iker Casillas, but for all Spain's domination of the ball his England counterpart Joe Hart was unemployed.

5. (paleontology) Either half of a flattened fossil when the rock has split along the plane of the fossil.

• equivalent
• homolog
• opposite number
• pendant

• counterbalance
• counterpoint
• countersign
• counterweight
• complement
• partner

counterpart (third-person singular simple present counterparts, present participle counterparting, simple past and past participle counterparted)

1. Counterbalance.