colleague

English

Etymology

From Middle French collegue, from Latin collēga (“a partner in office”), from com- (“with”) + lēgō (“to send on an embassy”), from lēx (“law”).

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑliɡ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒliːɡ/
(Malaysian, Singaporean) IPA^(key): /kəˈliːɡ/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: (Malaysian, Singaporean) -iːɡ
Hyphenation: col‧league

Noun

colleague (plural colleagues)

A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate.
- 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 72-3:
  Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. […] Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism. Dr Yoshimoto and his colleagues would like to add liver cancer to that list.

Synonyms

coworker
workmate
See also Thesaurus:associate

Related terms

collegial
collegiate

Translations

fellow member of a profession

Albanian: koleg (sq) m, kolege (sq) f
Arabic: شَرِيك‎ m (šarīk), شَرِيكَة‎ f (šarīka), زَمِيل‎ m (zamīl), زَمِيلَة‎ f (zamīla)
Armenian: գործընկեր (hy) (gorcənker), պաշտոնակից (hy) (paštonakicʿ), կոլեգա (hy) (kolega)
Azerbaijani: həmkar (az), əməkdaş (az)
Belarusian: кале́га m or f (kaljéha), каляжа́нка f (kaljažánka), супрацо́ўнік m (supracóŭnik), супрацо́ўніца f (supracóŭnica)
Bengali: সহকর্মী (bn) (sôhôkôrmī)
Bulgarian: коле́га (bg) m (koléga), коле́жка f (koléžka)
Burmese: လုပ်ဖော်ကိုင်ဖက် (my) (luphpaukuinghpak)
Catalan: col·lega (ca), company (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 同事 (tung⁴ si⁶), 同僚 (tung⁴ liu⁴)
Dungan: туншы (tunšɨ), тунхон (tunhon)
Mandarin: 同事 (zh) (tóngshì), 同僚 (zh) (tóngliáo)
Czech: kolega (cs) m, kolegyně (cs) f
Danish: kollega (da) c, medarbejder (da) c
Dutch: collega (nl) m, medewerker (nl) m
Estonian: kolleeg, kutsekaaslane
Faroese: starvsfelagi m, arbeiðsfelagi m
Finnish: kollega (fi), virkaveli, virkatoveri
French: collègue (fr) m or f, confrère (fr) m, consœur (fr) f, confrèsœur (neologism)
Georgian: კოლეგა (ḳolega), თანამშრომელი (tanamšromeli)
German: Kollege (de) m, Kollegin (de) f, Mitarbeiter (de) m, Mitarbeiterin (de) f
Greek: συνάδελφος (el) m or f (synádelfos)
Greenlandic: suleqat
Hebrew: עָמִית‎ (he) m ('amit), עמיתה‎ f ('amita)
Hindi: सहकर्मी m (sahkarmī), साथी (hi) m (sāthī)
Hungarian: kolléga (hu), kartárs (hu), munkatárs (hu)
Icelandic: starfsfélagi m, vinnufélagi m, samstarfsmaður m, kollegi m, félagi (is) m
Irish: comhghleacaí m
Italian: collega (it) m or f
Japanese: 同僚 (ja) (どうりょう, dōryō), 同業者 (どうぎょうしゃ, dōkyōsha)
Kazakh: әріптес (ärıptes)
Khmer: សហការី (saʼhaʼkaarəy), សហការិនី (saʼhaʼkaarenəy) (female)
Korean: 동료(同僚) (ko) (dongnyo), 동업자(同業者) (ko) (dong'eopja)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: hevkar (ku) m
Kyrgyz: кесиптеш (ky) (kesipteş), коллега (ky) (kollega)
Lao: ເພື່ອນຮ່ວມງານ (phư̄an hūam ngān)
Latin: collēga m
Latvian: kolēģis m, kolēģe f
Lithuanian: kolega m or f, bendradarbis m
Macedonian: колега m (kolega), колешка f (koleška)
Maori: hoa mahi
Middle English: felawe
Norman: collègue m or f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kollega (no) m, medarbeider m
Nynorsk: kollega m, medarbeidar m
Pashto: همکار‎ m (hamkār), هم کسب‎ m (ham kesb)
Persian: همکار‎ (fa) (hamkâr)
Polish: kolega (pl) m, koleżanka (pl) f
Portuguese: colega (pt) m or f
Romanian: coleg (ro) m, colegă (ro) f
Romansch: collavuratur m, collavuratura f
Russian: колле́га (ru) m or f (kolléga), сослужи́вец (ru) m (soslužívec), сослужи́вица (ru) f (soslužívica), сотру́дник (ru) m (sotrúdnik), сотру́дница (ru) f (sotrúdnica)
Rusyn: коле́ґа m (koléga)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: коле́га m, колѐгица f
Roman: koléga (sh) m, kolègica (sh) f
Slovak: kolega m, kolegyňa f
Slovene: kolega m (literally), kolegica f (literally), sodelavec m (formally), sodelavka (formally)
Spanish: colega (es) m or f, compañero (es) m
Swedish: kollega (sv), arbetskamrat (sv) c, medarbetare (sv) c
Tajik: ҳамкор (hamkor)
Telugu: సహోద్యోగి (sahōdyōgi)
Thai: เพื่อนร่วมงาน (pʉ̂ʉan-rûuam-ngaan)
Turkish: çalışma arkadaşı, meslektaş (tr), koldaş (tr)
Ukrainian: коле́га m or f (koléha), колежа́нка f (koležánka), співробі́тник m (spivrobítnyk), співробі́тниця f (spivrobítnycja)
Urdu: سھاتھی‎ m (sāthī)
Uyghur: خىزمەتداش‎ (xizmetdash), ئىشداش‎ (ishdash)
Uzbek: kasbdosh (uz), hamkasb (uz)
Vietnamese: đồng nghiệp (同業)
Welsh: cyd-weithwr m
Yiddish: קאָלעג‎ m (koleg), קאָלעגע‎ m (kolege), קאָלעגין‎ f (kolegin)

Verb

colleague (third-person singular simple present colleagues, present participle colleaguing, simple past and past participle colleagued)

To unite or associate with another or with others.
Young Fortinbras,/ Holding a weak supposal of our worth/...Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,/...hath not failed to pester us with message/ Importing the surrender of those lands/Lost by his father. - Hamlet (Act I, Scene 2)