frere

See also: Frere and frère

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ffrere, ffreere, freere, frer, fryere, ffryr, frir, ffryre

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)

1. any of one's male associates, friends, buddies, or companions
2. 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...

3. a friary; a religious institute for friars
4. (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.

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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)

1. brother (male sibling)

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Old French

Alternative forms

• fradre (9th century)
• fredre (10th century)

Etymology

From earlier fredre, fradre, from Latin frāter, frātrem, from Proto-Italic *frātēr, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.

Noun

frere oblique singular, m (oblique plural freres, nominative singular frere, nominative plural frere)

1. brother (family member)

Descendants

• → Middle English: frere, ffrere, ffreere, freere, frer, fryere, ffryr, frir, ffryre
  • English: friar
  • Scots: freer (archaic)
• Middle French: frere
  • French: frère
• Norman: frère (Guernsey), fréthe (Jersey)