1a. A man or boy. b.Informal A boyfriend. 2. A comrade or associate. 3a. A person of equal rank, position, or background; a peer. b. One of a pair; a mate: found the lost shoe and its fellow.4. A member of a learned society. 5. A graduate student appointed to a position granting financial aid and providing for further study. 6.Chiefly Britisha. An incorporated senior member of certain colleges and universities. b. A member of the governing body of certain colleges and universities. 7.Obsolete A person of a lower social class.
ADJECTIVE:
Being of the same kind, group, occupation, society, or locality; having in common certain characteristics or interests: fellow workers.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English felau, from Old English folaga, from Old Norse flagi, business partner, fellow, from flag, partnership : f, property, money; see peku- in Appendix I + lag, a laying down; see legh- in Appendix I.
WORD HISTORY:
A jolly good fellow might or might not be the ideal business associate, but the ancestor of our word fellow definitely referred to a business partner. Fellow was borrowed into English from Old Norse flagi, meaning “a partner or shareholder of any kind.” Old Norse flagi is derived from flag, “partnership,” a compound made up of f, “livestock, property, money,” and lag, “a laying in order” and “fellowship.” The notion of putting one's property together lies behind the senses of flagi meaning “partner” and “consort.” In Old Icelandic flagi also had the general sense “fellow, mate, comrade,” which fellow has as well, indicating perhaps that most partnerships turned out all right for speakers of Old Icelandic.
f
l
olaga, from Old Norse f
