brotherhood

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun

The state of being brothers or a brother (also figuratively).
An association of people for any purpose, such as a society of monks; a fraternity.
All the people engaged in the same business, especially those of the same profession
People, or (poetically) things, of the same kind.

Pronunciation

/ˈbɹʌðɚˌhʊd/ /ˈbɹʌðəˌhʊd/ /ˈbɹʌðəˌhɵd/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-brotherhood.wav /ˈbɹʊðəˌhʊd/ /ˈbɹʊðəˌɹʊd/ /ˈbɹʌðəɾˌhʉd/ /ˈbɹʌðəɹˌhʉd/

Word forms

brotherhood brotherhoods

Etymology

From Middle English brotherhod, equivalent to brother + -hood, from earlier brotherhede, alteration (influenced by suffixes in -hood, -head) of Early Middle English brotherrede (“brotherhood, fraternity”), from Old English brōþorrǣden (“brotherhood, fellowship”), equivalent to brother + -red (see brotherred). More at brother, -red. Piecewise doublet of friarhood.

Synonyms

fraternity association fellowship sodality brethren brolationship brotherhood brotherness brothership confraternity

Antonyms

irrelationship non-fraternity

Related words

sisterhood friendship

Derived words

blackhood blood brotherhood brotherhood-in-arms

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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