Fellowship

How to spell fellowship

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce fellowship

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fellowship mean?

1. nounA friendly bond of shared interests or company among people who treated as equals.
2. nounA funded position or grant awarded for research, study, or training.

Fellowship in a sentence

• The climbing club valued fellowship as much as reaching the summit.

• She won a two-year research fellowship at a medical institute.

• The volunteers found real fellowship in working side by side each weekend.

• The fellowship covers his tuition and a monthly living allowance.

Where does fellowship come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The word joins two old pieces of English. The first half, 'fellow', comes from the Old Norse word felagi, which literally named a business partner, someone who 'lays down money together' with you, built from fe meaning 'money' or 'cattle' (early wealth was measured in livestock) and lag meaning 'a laying down'. Scandinavian settlers brought it into English during the Viking age, where it softened into the everyday sense of a companion or comrade. To this the native suffix -ship was added, the same ending found in 'friendship' and 'hardship', which turns a noun into the state or condition of being that thing. So fellowship first meant the condition of being companions, and only later did universities adopt it for a funded position or membership. The buried 'money' sense is a neat reminder that a fellowship can still come with a stipend.

How the word is built

• fellow (companion, from Old Norse felagi)
• -ship (suffix denoting state, rank, or condition)