Fellow

How to spell fellow

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fellow

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fellow mean?

1. nounAn informal term for a man or boy.
2. adjectiveBelonging to the same group, class, or situation as oneself; sharing a common condition.
3. nounA senior member of a college, university, or learned society.

Fellow in a sentence

• noun

  The fellow at the counter helped me find the right size.

• adjective

  She thanked her fellow passengers for their patience during the delay.

• noun

  He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his research.

• noun

  A young fellow knocked on the door asking for directions.

• adjective

  The report was reviewed by several fellow engineers before publication.

• noun

  Each fellow of the college receives a research stipend and dining rights.

Where does fellow come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The word comes from the late Old English feolaga, which was borrowed from the Old Norse felagi, meaning a business partner or comrade. That Norse word was built from fe, meaning 'money' or 'cattle' (the early measure of wealth), and lag, meaning 'a laying down', so a felagi was literally a person who 'lays down money together' with you, that is, a partner in a joint venture. From this commercial sense the meaning broadened in English to any companion, associate, or member of the same group. By the later medieval period it had also become a casual word for a man or boy, and within universities it came to mean a salaried member of a college's governing body. The unusual spelling, with the single L and the -ow ending, preserves that Norse partnership origin rather than any Latin root.

How the word is built

• fe- (from Old Norse fé: money, property)
• -low (from lag: a laying down, partnership)