brotherhood

English

Etymology

From Middle English brotherhod, equivalent to brother +‎ -hood, from earlier brotherhede, alteration (influenced by suffixes in -hood, -head) of Early Middle English brotherrede (“brotherhood, fraternity”), from Old English brōþorrǣden (“brotherhood, fellowship”), equivalent to brother +‎ -red (see brotherred). More at brother, -red.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹʌð.ɚˌhʊd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹʌð.əˌhʊd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: broth‧er‧hood

Noun

brotherhood (countable and uncountable, plural brotherhoods)

1. The state of being brothers or a brother (also figuratively).

   brotherdom

   • 2022 September 11, Scott McDonald, quoting President Volodymyr Zelensky, “Cold, Hunger and Darkness in Ukraine 'Not as Terrible' as Russia: Zelensky”, in Newsweek‎^[1], archived from the original on 12 September 2022‎^[2]:

     "Read lips: Without gas or without you? Without you. Without light or without you? Without you. Without water or without you? Without you. Without food or without you? Without you.
     "Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as terrible and deadly for us as your "friendship and brotherhood."

2. An association of people for any purpose, such as a society of monks; a fraternity.

   James formed a kind of brotherhood for ex-pats who were working in Valencia.

3. All the people engaged in the same business, especially those of the same profession

   the legal brotherhood

   the medical brotherhood

4. People, or (poetically) things, of the same kind.
   • 1800, William Wordsworth, Degenerate Douglas:

     a brotherhood of venerable trees

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

• fraternity, association, fellowship, sodality, brethren

Hypernyms

• (state): siblinghood

Derived terms

• blackhood
• blood brotherhood
• brotherhood-in-arms

 

Translations

state of being brothers or a brother

• Afrikaans: broederskap (af)
• Arabic: أُخُوَّة (ʔuḵuwwa)
• Armenian: եղբայրություն (hy) (eġbayrutʻyun)
• Aromanian: frãtsilji f
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܲܚܘܼܬܵܐ f (aḵutā)
• Asturian: fraternidá m
• Avar: вацлъи class 3 (waclˢi)
• Azerbaijani: qardaşlıq
• Belarusian: бра́цтва n (bráctva), братэ́рства n (bratérstva)
• Bengali: বেরাদরী (beradori)
• Bulgarian: бра́тство (bg) n (brátstvo)
• Catalan: fraternitat (ca) f, germanor f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哥們義氣／哥们义气 (gēmen yìqì)

• Cornish: brederedh m
• Czech: bratrství n
• Danish: broderskab n
• Dutch: broederschap (nl) f
• Esperanto: frateco (eo)
• Finnish: veljeys (fi)
• French: fraternité (fr) f
• Galician: irmandade (gl) f
• Georgian: ძმობა (ʒmoba)
• German: Bruderschaft (de) f
• Greek: αδελφοσύνη (el) f (adelfosýni)
• Gujarati: ભાઈબંધી f (bhāībandhī), બિરાદરી f (birādrī)
• Hebrew: אחווה \ אַחֲוָה f (akhavá)
• Hungarian: testvériség (hu)
• Ido: frateso (io)
• Italian: fratellanza (it) f
• Japanese: 兄弟の間柄 (きょうだいのあいだがら, kyōdai no aidagara)
• Korean: 형제간 (hyeongjegan)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: biratî (ku) f

• Lao: ພາລາດອນພາບ (phā lā dǭn phāp)
• Latin: frāternitās
• Macedonian: братство n (bratstvo)
• Malayalam: സാഹോദര്യം (sāhōdaryaṁ)
• Mingrelian: ჯიმალობა (ǯimaloba)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brorskap n

  Nynorsk: brorskap m or n

• Old Church Slavonic: братрьство n (bratrĭstvo)
• Persian: برادری (fa) (barâdari)
• Polish: braterstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: irmandade (pt) f, fraternidade (pt) f
• Romanian: fraternitate (ro) f, frăție (ro) f
• Russian: бра́тство (ru) n (brátstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бра̀тство n

  Roman: bràtstvo (sh) n

• Slovak: bratstvo n
• Slovene: bràtstvo n
• Spanish: fraternidad (es) f
• Swedish: broderskap (sv)
• Thai: ภราดรภาพ (th)
• Turkish: kardeşlik (tr), biraderlik (tr)
• Udi: вичилугъ (vičiluɣ)
• Ukrainian: брате́рство (uk) n (bratérstvo), бра́тство (uk) n (brátstvo)
• Vietnamese: tình anh em
• Welsh: brawdoliaeth (cy) f, brawdoliaethau (cy) f pl

an association of any purpose, a fraternity

• Afrikaans: broederskap (af)
• Armenian: եղբայրություն (hy) (eġbayrutʻyun)
• Belarusian: бра́цтва n (bráctva), братэ́рства n (bratérstva)
• Bulgarian: бра́тство (bg) f (brátstvo)
• Danish: broderskab n
• Dutch: broederschap (nl) f
• Esperanto: frataro
• Finnish: veljeskunta (fi)
• French: confrérie (fr) f, fraternité (fr) f
• Galician: irmandade (gl) f, confraría f
• Georgian: საძმო (saʒmo)
• German: Bruderschaft (de) f
• Greek: αδελφότητα (el) f (adelfótita)

  Ancient: ἀδελφότης f (adelphótēs)

• Hebrew: אחווה \ אַחֲוָה f (akhavá)
• Hungarian: testvériség (hu)
• Irish: bráithreachas m
• Kazakh: бауырластық (bauyrlastyq), туыстық (tuystyq)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: برایەتی (brayetî)

  Northern Kurdish: biratî (ku) f

• Lao: ພາລາດອນພາບ (phā lā dǭn phāp)
• Macedonian: братство n (bratstvo)
• Norwegian: brorskap n
• Polish: bractwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: irmandade (pt) f, fraternidade (pt) f
• Romanian: fraternitate (ro) f
• Russian: бра́тство (ru) n (brátstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бра̀тство n

  Roman: bràtstvo (sh) n

• Slovak: bratstvo n
• Slovene: bratovščina (sl) n
• Spanish: hermandad (es) f
• Swedish: brödraskap (sv)
• Tagalog: kapatiran
• Thai: ภราดรภาพ (th)
• Turkish: kardeşlik (tr), birlik (tr)
• Ukrainian: брате́рство (uk) n (bratérstvo), бра́тство (uk) n (brátstvo)
• Vietnamese: hữu ái (vi)
• Yiddish: ברידערשאַפֿט f (bridershaft)

body of persons engaged in same business

• Finnish: ammattikunta
• Galician: gremio m
• German: Kammer (de) f
• Turkish: kardeşlik (tr), birlik (tr), dernek (tr), lokal (tr), cemiyet (tr)

persons of a like kind

• Danish: broderskab n
• Finnish: veljeskunta (fi)
• French: fraternité (fr) f
• Galician: irmandade (gl) f
• Greek: αδελφάτο (el) n (adelfáto)
• Hungarian: testvériség (hu)
• Macedonian: братство n (bratstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бра̀тство n

  Roman: bràtstvo (sh) n

• Turkish: kardeşlik (tr), birlik (tr)

See also

• sisterhood

Further reading

• “brotherhood”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “brotherhood”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “brotherhood”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.