different between brother vs swimmers

English

Alternative forms

• brotha (Jamaican English, AAVE)
• brothah
• brothuh

Etymology

From Middle English brother, from Old English br?þor, from Proto-West Germanic *br?þer, from Proto-Germanic *br?þ?r (compare North Frisian Bröðer, West Frisian broer, Dutch broeder, German Bruder, Danish broder, Norwegian bror), from Proto-Indo-European *b?réh?t?r (compare Irish bráthair, Welsh brawd, Latin fr?ter, Ancient Greek ?????? (phrát?r), Armenian ?????? (e?bayr), Tocharian A pracar, Tocharian B procer, Russian ???? (brat), Lithuanian brolis, Persian ?????? (bar?dar),Northern Kurdish bira, Sanskrit ?????? (bhr?t?)). Doublet of frater, friar, and pal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b??ð?(?)/
• (US) enPR: br?th'?r, IPA^(key): /?b??ð?/
• (General New Zealand) enPR: br?th'?(r), IPA^(key): /?b??ð?(?)/
• (th-fronting) enPR: br?v??(r), IPA^(key): /?b??v?(?)/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(r)

Noun

brother (plural brothers or (archaic in most senses) brethren)

1. Son of the same parents as another person.
2. A male having at least one parent in common with another (see half-brother, stepbrother).
3. A male fellow member of a religious community, church, trades union etc.
   • 1975, New King James Version, Deuteronomy 23:19

     You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.

4. (informal, dated) A form of address to a man.
5. (African-American Vernacular) A black male.
   • 1991 January, SPIN, vol. 6, no. 10, page 58:

     SPIN: Aren't you both as popular with white people as black people?

     L.L.: Oh, no question. But I've always said, that's why when people say, "L.L., hey, like, on the last album, you sold out," I say, "Yo, can I ask you a question, Mike Tyson sell out?" "No, he's a brother." I say, he's a cross-over artist. He went pop. You know what I'm saying? I mean, the rap audience [...] they have to understand that their music is for all people. Me personally, I don't think it's about being black or white, […]
6. Somebody, usually male, connected by a common cause or situation.
   • 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.

     The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

7. Someone who is a peer, whether male or female.

   • And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.

Usage notes

• The plural “brethren” (cf. “sistren”, “sistern”) is not used for biological brothers in contemporary English (although it was in older usage). It still finds use, however, in the meaning of “members of a religious order”. It is also sometimes used in other figurative senses, e.g. “adherents of the same religion”, “countrymen”, and the like.

Coordinate terms

• (with regards to gender): sister

Hypernyms

• (son of common parents): sibling

Derived terms

Related terms

• Abbreviations: bro, brah, bra, bruh, bruv
• friar
• fraternal
• fraternity

Descendants

• Bahamian Creole: bredda
• Belizean Creole: breda
• Bislama: brata
• Cameroon Pidgin: bro?da
• Gullah: broda
• Hawaiian Creole: braddah
• Islander Creole English: broda
• Kabuverdianu: bróda
• Krio: brohda
• Nicaraguan Creole: brada
• Nigerian Pidgin: broda
• Pichinglis: br?da
• Pijin: brata
• Saramaccan: baáa
• Sranan Tongo: brada
  • ? Dutch: brada
• Tok Pisin: brata, barata
• ? Portuguese: bróder, bródi, brother, ? brada

Translations

See brother/translations § Noun.

Verb

brother (third-person singular simple present brothers, present participle brothering, simple past and past participle brothered)

1. (transitive) To treat as a brother.
   • 1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe:

     Seest thou not we are overreached, and that our proposed mode of communicating with our friends without has been disconcerted by this same motley gentleman thou art so fond to brother?

Translations

See brother/translations § Verb.

Interjection

brother

1. Expressing exasperation.

   We're being forced to work overtime? Oh, brother!

Middle English

Alternative forms

• broþer, broþir, broþur, broder, broðer, brothir, brothur, broiþer, bruther, brodir, broder, brothre, broþre, brodyr
• (Ormulum) broþerr

Etymology

From Old English br?þor, from Proto-Germanic *br?þ?r, from Proto-Indo-European *b?réh?t?r. Doublet of frere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bro?ð?r/

Noun

brother (plural brether or bretheren or brotheren or (rare) brothers, genitive brother or brothers)

1. A brother or brother-in-law; a male sibling.

2. A (Christian) man (i.e. as a "brother in life/brother in Christ").
3. A blood brother; one in a mutual pact of loyalty between two.
4. Another member of a religious community or order (when one is a member)
5. Another member of a guild or craft association (when one is a member)
6. A male individual who one has a close platonic relationship with.
7. (rare) One of one's peers as a ruler; (another) ruler.
8. (rare) A relative or family member who is a man.
9. (rare, alchemy) Something similar to something else.

Related terms

• brotherhede
• brother-in-lawe
• brotherles
• brotherly
• brotherwort

Descendants

• English: brother (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: brither, bruther, broder, bruder
• Yola: brover, brower

References

• “br??ther, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-21.

Old Frisian

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *br?þ?r.

Noun

br?ther m

1. brother

Descendants

• North Frisian:

  Amrum: bruder

  Föhr: bruler

  Northern Goesharder: (Hoolmer) broor, (Hoorninger) brår

  Southern Goesharder: brööðer

  Hallig: bröör

  Halunder: Bruur

  Mooring: brouder

  Söl'ring: Bröðer

• Saterland Frisian: Brour, Bruur
• West Frisian: broer

Portuguese

Noun

brother m (plural brothers)

1. Alternative spelling of bróder

English

Noun

swimmers

1. plural of swimmer
2. (Australia) A swimsuit.
3. (slang) sperms