follower

English

Etymology

From Middle English folwer, folwere, folȝere, from Old English folgere (“follower; attendant; disciple”), equivalent to follow +‎ -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foulger, West Frisian folger, Dutch volger, German Folger, Swedish följare.

Noun

follower (plural followers)

1. (literally) One who follows, comes after another.
2. Something that comes after another thing.
3. One who is a part of master's physical group, such as a servant or retainer.
5. One who follows mentally, adherer to the opinions, ideas or teachings of another, a movement etc.
6. An imitator, who follows another's example.
7. A pursuer.
8. (Internet) An account holder who subscribes to see content from another account on a social media platform.

   I have over 50 followers on Twitter, but all my tweets only get 10 likes.

   • 2012, “Amen”, in Dreamchasers 2, performed by Meek Mill ft. Drake:

     Talking bout these other rappers getting old is even getting old / Worrying about your followers, you need to get your dollars up

9. A machine part receiving motion from another.
10. A man courting a maidservant.
11. Young cattle.
12. A metal piece placed at the top of a candle to keep the wax melting evenly.
13. (Australian rules football) Any of the three players (the ruckman, ruck rover, and rover) who usually follow the ball around the ground rather than occupying a fixed position.
14. (colloquial, dated) A debt collector.

Antonyms

• leader
• precursor

Derived terms

• followership
• nonfollower

Related terms

• following

Translations

one who follows

• Arabic: تَابِع‎ m (tabiʿ)

  Egyptian Arabic: تابع‎ m (tabiʕ), مرمطون‎ m (marmaṭoon)

• Bulgarian: последовател (bg) m (posledovatel)
• Catalan: seguidor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 关注者

• Danish: efterfølger c
• Dutch: volger (nl) m, navolger (nl) m
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi)
• Galician: seguidor m
• Georgian: მიმყოლი (mimq̇oli)

• German: Nachfolger (de) m, Nachfolgerin (de) f
• Greek: ακόλουθος (el) m (akólouthos)

  Ancient: ἀκόλουθος m (akólouthos)

• Hungarian: követő (hu)
• Latin: sectātor m
• Portuguese: seguidor (pt) m
• Russian: после́дователь (ru) m (poslédovatelʹ), после́довательница (ru) f (poslédovatelʹnica)
• Spanish: seguidor (es) m
• Swahili: mfuasi (sw)
• Swedish: följare (sv) c, följeslagare (sv) c
• Tagalog: tagasunod

thing that comes after another thing

• Danish: efterfølger c
• Dutch: volgende (nl) m or n
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi)
• Greek: ακόλουθο (el) n (akóloutho)

• Portuguese: sequência (pt) f
• Swedish: efterföljare (sv) c, efterträdare (sv) c

one who is a part of a master's physical group, such as a servant or retainer

• Bulgarian: придружител (bg) m (pridružitel)
• Danish: ledsager c, følgesvend c
• Dutch: gevolgsman m
• Egyptian: (šmsw)
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi)

• Greek: ακόλουθος (el) m (akólouthos)
• Maori: kaitautāwhi
• Portuguese: seguidor (pt) m

one who adheres to the opinions, ideas or teachings of another

• Bulgarian: последовател (bg) m (posledovatel)
• Danish: tilhænger c, medløber c, eftersnakker c
• Dutch: volgeling (nl) m, discipel (nl) m
• Finnish: kannattaja (fi)
• French: disciple (fr) m
• Georgian: მომხრე (momxre)
• German: Anhänger (de) m
• Greek: ακόλουθος (el) m (akólouthos), οπαδός (el) m (opadós)
• Latin: sectātor m

• Maore Comorian: mutru class 1/2
• Maori: kaitautāwhi, wheao
• Polish: wyznawca (pl) m
• Portuguese: seguidor (pt) m
• Russian: сторо́нник (ru) m (storónnik)
• Swahili: mfuasi (sw)
• Swedish: anhängare (sv) c
• Tagalog: tagasunod

imitator

• Dutch: imitator (nl) m, navolger (nl) m
• Spanish: imitador (es)

pursuer

• Bulgarian: преследвач m (presledvač)
• Danish: forfølger c
• Spanish: seguidor (es) m

• Swahili: mfuasi (sw)
• Swedish: förföljare (sv) c

social media consumer

• Arabic: مُتَابِع‎ m (mutābiʿ)
• French: follower (fr) m

• Spanish: seguidor (es) m
• Swedish: följare (sv) c

man courting a maidservant

young cattle

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} poursuivant (fr) m, ^{(please verify)} suivant (fr) m, suiveur (fr) m

Anagrams

• fowl-lore, refollow

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French

Etymology

From English follower.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔ.lɔ.wœʁ/

Noun

follower m (plural followers)

1. (Internet) follower (on Twitter and similar sites)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔ.lɔ.we/

Verb

follower

1. (Internet) To follow (on Twitter and similar sites)

Conjugation

Conjugation of follower (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	follower
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	followant /fɔ.lɔ.wɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		followé /fɔ.lɔ.we/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	followe /fɔ.lɔw/	followes /fɔ.lɔw/	followe /fɔ.lɔw/	followons /fɔ.lɔ.wɔ̃/	followez /fɔ.lɔ.we/	followent /fɔ.lɔw/
	imperfect	followais /fɔ.lɔ.wɛ/	followais /fɔ.lɔ.wɛ/	followait /fɔ.lɔ.wɛ/	followions /fɔ.lɔ.wjɔ̃/	followiez /fɔ.lɔ.wje/	followaient /fɔ.lɔ.wɛ/
	past historic2	followai /fɔ.lɔ.we/	followas /fɔ.lɔ.wa/	followa /fɔ.lɔ.wa/	followâmes /fɔ.lɔ.wam/	followâtes /fɔ.lɔ.wat/	followèrent /fɔ.lɔ.wɛʁ/
	future	followerai /fɔ.lɔw.ʁe/	followeras /fɔ.lɔw.ʁa/	followera /fɔ.lɔw.ʁa/	followerons /fɔ.lɔw.ʁɔ̃/	followerez /fɔ.lɔw.ʁe/	followeront /fɔ.lɔw.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	followerais /fɔ.lɔw.ʁɛ/	followerais /fɔ.lɔw.ʁɛ/	followerait /fɔ.lɔw.ʁɛ/	followerions /fɔ.lɔ.wə.ʁjɔ̃/	followeriez /fɔ.lɔ.wə.ʁje/	followeraient /fɔ.lɔw.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	followe /fɔ.lɔw/	followes /fɔ.lɔw/	followe /fɔ.lɔw/	followions /fɔ.lɔ.wjɔ̃/	followiez /fɔ.lɔ.wje/	followent /fɔ.lɔw/
	imperfect2	followasse /fɔ.lɔ.was/	followasses /fɔ.lɔ.was/	followât /fɔ.lɔ.wa/	followassions /fɔ.lɔ.wa.sjɔ̃/	followassiez /fɔ.lɔ.wa.sje/	followassent /fɔ.lɔ.was/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	followe /fɔ.lɔw/	—	followons /fɔ.lɔ.wɔ̃/	followez /fɔ.lɔ.we/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).