colleague

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French collegue, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin collega (“a partner in office”), from com- (“with”) + legare (“to send on an embassy”), from lex (“law”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑliɡ/

• Audio (US):

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Noun

colleague (plural colleagues)

1. 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, pages 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
• Arabic: زَمِيل m (zamīl), زَمِيلَة f (zamīla)
• Armenian: գործընկեր (hy) (gorcənker), պաշտոնակից (hy) (paštonakicʻ), կոլեգա (hy) (kolega)
• Azerbaijani: həmkar (az)
• Belarusian: кале́га m or f (kaljéha), супрацо́ўнік m (supracóŭnik), супрацо́ўніца f (supracóŭnica)
• Bulgarian: коле́га (bg) m (koléga), коле́жка f (koléžka)
• Catalan: col·lega (ca), company (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同事 (zh) (tóngshì), 同僚 (zh) (tóngliáo)

• Czech: kolega (cs) m
• Danish: kollega (da) c
• Dutch: collega (nl) m
• Estonian: kolleeg
• Faroese: starvsfelagi m, arbeiðsfelagi m
• Finnish: kollega (fi), virkaveli, virkatoveri
• French: confrère (fr), collègue (fr) m or f
• 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)
• Hungarian: kolléga (hu), kartárs (hu), munkatárs (hu)
• Icelandic: starfsfélagi m, vinnufélagi m, samstarfsmaður m, kollegi m, félagi (is) 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)
• Korean: 동료 (ko) (dongnyo) (同僚 (ko)), 동업자 (ko) (dong'eopja)
• Latin: collēga m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: kolēģis m, kolēģe f
• Lithuanian: kolega m or f, bendradarbis m
• Macedonian: колега m (kolega), колешка f (koleška)
• Maori: hoa mahi
• Norman: collègue m or f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kollega (no) m, medarbeider m

  Nynorsk: kollega m, medarbeidar m

• 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), сотру́дник (ru) m (sotrúdnik), сотру́дница (ru) f (sotrúdnica)
• Rusyn: коле́ґа m (koléga)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: колега m or f

  Roman: kolega (sh) m or 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)
• Turkish: çalışma arkadaşı, meslektaş (tr)
• Ukrainian: коле́га m or f (koléha), співробі́тник m (spivrobítnyk), співробі́тниця f (spivrobítnycja)
• Urdu: سھاتھی (shāthī)
• Uzbek: kasbdosh (uz)
• Vietnamese: đồng nghiệp
• Welsh: cyd-weithwr m
• Yiddish: קאָלעג m (koleg), קאָלעגע m (kolege), קאָלעגין f (kolegin)

See also

Do not confuse with:

• college (distant cognate, from Latin)
• collage

Verb

1. 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)

Further reading

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