# brother

Pronunciation: US say "BRUTH-ur" /ˈbɹʌðɚ/; UK say "BRUTH-uh" /ˈbɹʌðə/

## Noun

1. A male who has at least one parent in common with another person.
   - Simple: A boy or man who shares at least one parent with you.
   - _My older brother taught me how to ride a bike when I was six._
   - _They are brothers who have the same mother but different fathers._
2. A fellow person, usually a man, linked to another by a shared cause, experience, group or close friendship.
   - Simple: A person, usually a man, you feel close to because you share a cause, an experience or a group.
   - _Years of shared struggle made them brothers in spirit._
   - _She found a brother in the volunteer who worked beside her every night._
3. A male fellow member of a religious community, church, labor union, or similar body.
   - Simple: A man who belongs to the same church, religious group, or union as you.
   - _Each brother in the order takes a vow of silence._
   - _His fellow union brothers stood with him at the meeting._
4. An informal way of addressing a man. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: An informal word used to speak to a man directly, as in 'Thanks, brother.'
   - _Take it easy, brother, there's no rush._
   - _What's the plan, brother?_
5. Something closely akin to another thing of its type, for example a smaller or larger model in the same product line.
   - Simple: Something very close to another thing of the same kind, like a smaller or bigger model of a product.
   - _The compact hatchback shares its engine and most of its parts with its larger brother, but it costs thousands less._
   - _The compact sedan borrows its engine from its bigger brother in the lineup._
6. A male kinsman, or one descended from the same forefather. *(literary)*
   - Simple: A male relative, or a man from the same family line.
   - _He embraced the stranger as a brother sprung from the same forefather._
   - _Though the clans had feuded for generations, the old chief reminded them that they were brothers, all descended from one founder._
8. A fellow black man, regarded as part of a shared community. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: A black man who is seen as part of the same community as you.
   - _When another Black student joined the debate team, Marcus grinned and said it was good to finally see a brother there._
   - _The book club for Black men started with five brothers and now fills the back room of the library each month._

## Interjection

7. Used to express exasperation or annoyance.
   - Simple: A word you say when you feel annoyed or fed up.
   - _Oh brother, here we go with another delay._
   - _Brother! I left my keys at home again._

## Verb

9. To treat someone as a brother. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To treat someone like your own brother.

## Origin

"Brother" was inherited through Middle English from Old English brōþor, from Proto-West Germanic *brōþer and Proto-Germanic *brōþēr, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰréh₂tēr. It is a doublet of words like frater, friar, and pal.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/brother (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).