From Early Modern Englishbrethren, plural ofbrother, fromMiddle Englishbrethren, fromMiddle Englishbrethere,brether +-en(plural ending). Ultimately fromOld Englishbrōþor,brōþru(“brothers, brethren”), influenced byOld Englishbrēþer, dative singular ofbrōþor(“brother”). Equivalent tobrother +-en(plural ending). CompareGermanBrüder(“brothers, brethren”). More atbrother. The vowel change (fromo toe) is calledumlaut.
brethren
- (archaic)plural ofbrother
- (poetic)kinsmen
The pluralbrethren is generally used for members of an organization, especially a religious body, whereas the pluralbrothers is used in the familial sense as well as for larger groups.
brethren pl (plural only)
- (figuratively) The body of members, especially of a fraternal, religious or military order.
the body of members
- Atayal:mtsswe
- Bengali:ভ্রাতৃবর্গ(bhratriborgo)
- Catalan:confraria (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin:同胞 (zh)(tóngbāo)
- Danish:broder (da) c
- Finnish:veljet pl,veljekset pl
- French:confrérie (fr) f,confrères (fr) m pl,frères (fr) m pl
- German:Brüder (de) m,Brüdergemeinschaft f
- Greek:αδελφότητα (el) f(adelfótita),αδελφοί (el) m pl(adelfoí)
- Hungarian:hittestvér (hu),felebarát (hu)
- Italian:confratelli
- Japanese:同胞 (ja)(dōhō)
- Occitan:confraires m pl,fraires (oc) m pl
- Polish:bractwo (pl) n
- Portuguese:confraria (pt) f,confrades m orf,irmãos (pt) m pl
- Russian:бра́тство (ru)(brátstvo)
- Spanish:hermanos (es) pl,camaradas (es) pl,correligionarios (es) pl,cofrades pl,cofradía (es) f,hermandad (es) f,grey (es) f
- Swedish:bröder (sv) pl
- Ukrainian:бра́ття (uk) n(bráttja),бра́тство (uk) n(brátstvo),бра́тія (uk) f(brátija)
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Translations to be checked
brethren (comparativemorebrethren,superlativemostbrethren)
- Of orakin to;related;like
2009, Seth Shostak,Confessions of an Alien Hunter:The principle still sounds good, but our astronomical knowledge is limited, and we haven't yet discovered any suchbrethren solar systems.
