frere
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Old French frere, from Latin frater, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr. Doublet of brother.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
frere (plural freres or (rare) freren)
- A male associate or companion
- friar (male member of a mendicant order)
- 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The Somnours Tale”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 79, recto:
- Right ſo as bees / out swarmen from an hyue / Out of the deueles ers / ther gonne dryue / Twenty thouſand freres / on a route / And thurgh oute helle / swarmeden 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 […]
- friary (religious institute for friars)
- (rare) monk (male member of a monastic order)
Descendants edit
References edit
- “frẹ̄r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-05-26.
Middle French edit
Etymology edit
From Old French frere, from earlier fredre, fradre, from Latin frāter, frātrem, from Proto-Italic *frātēr, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.
Noun edit
frere m (plural freres)
- brother (male sibling)
Descendants edit
Old French edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Latin frāter, from Proto-Italic *frātēr, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
frere oblique singular, m (oblique plural freres, nominative singular frere, nominative plural frere)
- brother (family member)