frere
See also: Frere and frère
Middle English
Alternative forms
- ffrere, ffreere, ffryr, ffryre, freere, frer, frir, fryere
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French frere, from Latin frater, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr. Doublet of brother.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfreːr(ə)/, /ˈfriːr(ə)/
Noun
frere (plural freres or (rare) freren)
- any of one's male associates, friends, buddies, or companions
- a friar; a male member of a mendicant religious order
- a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Summoner's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 1693-1696:
- Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve, / Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve / Twenty thousand freres on a route / And thurghout helle swarmed al aboute...
- Just like bees swarm from a hive / Out of the devil's arse there were driven / Twenty thousand friars on a rout / And throughout hell they swarmed all about...
-
- a friary; a religious institute for friars
- (rare) a monk; a male member (a brother) of a monastic religious order
Descendants
- English: friar
- Scots: freer (archaic)
References
- “frẹ̄r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-05-26.
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French frere, from earlier fredre, fradre, from Latin frāter, frātrem, from Proto-Italic *frātēr, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.
Noun
frere m (plural freres)
- brother (male sibling)
Descendants
- French: frère
- Norman: frère (Guernsey), fréthe (Jersey)
Old French
Alternative forms
- fredre (archaic)
Etymology
From Latin frāter, from Proto-Italic *frātēr, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.
Pronunciation
- (archaic) IPA(key): /ˈfɾeːðɾə/
- (classical) IPA(key): /ˈfɾeːɾə/
- (late) IPA(key): /ˈfɾɛɾə/
Noun
frere m (oblique plural freres, nominative singular frere, nominative plural frere)
- brother (family member)
Descendants
- Middle French: frere
- French: frère
- Norman: frère (Guernsey), fréthe (Jersey)
- → Middle English: frere
- English: friar
- Scots: freer (archaic)