fella
Pluralfellas
- 1Pronunciation spelling of fellow.
The fella at the counter gave me a fair price for the parts.
I met a clever fella on the train who explained the whole thing.
Note
A spelling that captures how fellow sounds in relaxed speech, with the final -ow reduced to a schwa. It keeps fellow's sense of a man or companion and is most at home as a form of address: "Am I right, fellas?" or "And the same to you, fella!" The plural is fellas. Because the spelling imitates the spoken word, it suits dialogue and casual prose more than formal writing.
- 2An Internet troll who wages information warfare against Russia, especially in connection with the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Every time the ministry tweeted, a fella was there within minutes to fact-check it.
The embassy's account was swarmed by fellas who answered every claim about the invasion with memes and mockery.
- 3A general intensifier attached to another word, used in Australian Aboriginal English.
She speared a bigfella barramundi up at the crossing.
The boss reckoned it was a big fella job, two weeks at least.
Note
In Australian Aboriginal English the word can stop naming a person and become a marker inside the noun phrase, after this, that or a describing word. Jimmy Chi's Bran Nue Dae (1990) has both uses side by side: in this fella song it simply adds weight, and in this fella longa Canberra a man is still meant. Context decides which, since the marker grew out of the everyday word for a man.
Practice
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Origin
An informal form of the word "fellow".