brother

Etymology

PIE word *bʰréh₂tēr Inherited from Middle English brother, from Old English brōþor, from Proto-West Germanic *brōþer, from Proto-Germanic *brōþēr, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr. Doublet of bhai, frater, friar, and pal.

noun

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.
   You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. 1975, New King James Version, Deuteronomy 23:19
   Thank you, brother.
   I would like to thank the brother who just spoke.
4. (informal) A form of address to a man.
   Listen, brother, I don't know what you want, but I'm not interested.
5. (African-American Vernacular) A fellow black man.
   [Michael Jackson] went on television and said, “I don't have sex because of my religious beliefs”, and the public believed it. I know brothers was like “get the fuck out of here!”. And white people, “Michael's a special kinda guy!” 1987, Eddie Murphy Raw, spoken by Eddie Murphy
   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, […] 1991 January, SPIN, volume 6, number 10, page 58
   But damn if they knew when to just leave a brother alone and let him sulk in silence. 2013, Gwyneth Bolton, Ready for Love
6. Somebody, usually male, connected by a common cause, situation, or affection.
   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. 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., (Please provide the book title or journal name)
   O, then! To ride upon such glories, Till my time comes nigh, And commune in the city of peaceful slumbers Among my brothers of wind-blown rye. 2016, William Burkholder, The City of My Brothers
7. Someone who is a peer, whether male or female.
8. (poetic) Someone who is a kinsman or shares the same patriarch.
   The eighteenth century text, with its antislavery message and its Adamic figuration, calls implicily for the reconciliation of all peoples as "brothers" (not the reprehensible brothers of Joseph but the cocreated brothers of Adam). 1995, Theophus H. Smith, Conjuring Culture, page 89
   Oh, my Brothers, five nights ago many of our braves were out upon the buffalo grounds. 1908 June, Grace Kellogg, “A Keeper of the Door”, in National Magazine, volume 28, page 280
   In the case of the boy, a certain amount of instruction comes from the male members of the mother's clan, such as how to go after game, how to handle horses, how to dress, how to conduct yourself and what to seek in life. They also teach the boy how to treat domestic animals. Even pets understand kindness, and the clan brothers use that as an example. 2010, Justin B. Richland, Sarah Deer, Introduction to Tribal Legal Studies, page 193
   The carriage that the brothers of the Kai clan rode on had travelled a lot these past few days, and the horses that pulled the carriage were exhausted. 2020, Xiao Xiao Ma Jia Hao, Three Kingdoms: Super Hegemon

verb

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

intj

1. Expressing exasperation.
   We're being forced to work overtime? Oh, brother!