BROTHER - Definition & Meaning for Kids
Meaning 1
Part of speech: Noun
a male with the same parents as someone else
Example: my brother still lives with our parents
Categories: Male sibling
Meaning 2
Part of speech: Noun
a male person who is a fellow member (of a fraternity or religion or other group)
Example: none of his brothers would betray him
Categories: Member, Fellow member
Meaning 3
Part of speech: Noun
used as a term of address for those male persons engaged in the same movement
Example: Greetings, comrade!
Categories: Friend
Meaning 4
Part of speech: Noun
(Roman Catholic Church) a title given to a monk and used as form of address
Example: a Benedictine Brother
Categories: Monk, Monastic
Synonyms
Sidekick, Buddy, Pal, Crony, Blood brother
Antonyms
🌱 Word Origin (Etymology)
The word "brother" comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr. It started in Proto-Germanic *brōþēr. Then it appeared in Proto-West Germanic *brōþer. Later, people used it in Old English brōþor. After that, it was Middle English brother. Many other languages have similar words:.
- North Frisian: Bröðer
- West Frisian: broer
- Dutch: broeder
- German: Bruder
- Danish: broder
- Norwegian: bror
- Irish: bráthair
- Welsh: brawd
- Latin: frāter
- Ancient Greek: φράτηρ
- Armenian: եղբայր
- Tocharian A: pracar
- Tocharian B: procer
- Russian: брат
- Lithuanian: brolis
- Persian: برادر
- Northern Kurdish: bira
- Sanskrit: भ्रातृ
🔗 Related Words
frater – A related word in the same word family.
friar – A related word in the same word family.
pal – A related word in the same word family.
🧩 Fun Fact
A word passing through this many languages survived because it named something universally important.