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• fellow
  fellow

  noun

  a man or boy.
• Fellow
  Fellow

  noun

  a member of any of various learned societies

fellow

American  

[fel-oh] / ˈfɛl oʊ /

noun

fellows plural

1. a man or boy.

   a fine old fellow; a nice little fellow.

2. Informal. beau; suitor.

   Mary had her fellow over to meet her folks.

3. Informal. person; one.

   They don't treat a fellow very well here.

4. a person of small worth or no esteem.

5. a companion; comrade; associate.

   They have been fellows since childhood.

6. a person belonging to the same rank or class; equal; peer.

   The doctor conferred with his fellows.

7. one of a pair; mate; match.

   a shoe without its fellow.

8. Education.

   1. a graduate student of a university or college to whom an allowance is granted for special study.

   2. British. an incorporated member of a college, entitled to certain privileges.

   3. a member of the corporation or board of trustees of certain universities or colleges.

9. a member of any of certain learned societies.

   a fellow of the British Academy.

10. Obsolete. a partner.

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verb (used with object)

1. to make or represent as equal with another.

2. Archaic. to produce a fellow to; match.

adjective

1. belonging to the same class or group; united by the same occupation, interests, etc.; being in the same condition.

   fellow students; fellow sufferers.

fellow ¹ British  

/ ˈfɛləʊ /

noun

1. a man or boy

2. an informal word for boyfriend

3. informal one or oneself

   a fellow has to eat

4. a person considered to be of little importance or worth

5. 1. (often plural) a companion; comrade; associate

   2. ( as modifier )

      fellow travellers

6. (at Oxford and Cambridge universities) a member of the governing body of a college, who is usually a member of the teaching staff

7. a member of the governing body or established teaching staff at any of various universities or colleges

8. a postgraduate student employed, esp for a fixed period, to undertake research and, often, to do some teaching

9. 1. a person in the same group, class, or condition

      the surgeon asked his fellows

   2. ( as modifier )

      fellow students

      a fellow sufferer

10. one of a pair; counterpart; mate

    looking for the glove's fellow

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Fellow ² British  

/ ˈfɛləʊ /

noun

1. a member of any of various learned societies

   Fellow of the British Academy

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fellow Idioms  

1. see regular guy (fellow); strange bedfellows.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fellows
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fellow

before 1050; Middle English felowe, felawe, late Old English fēolaga < Old Norse fēlagi partner in a joint undertaking, equivalent to fē money, property (cognate with Old English feoh, German Vieh ) + -lagi bedfellow, comrade; akin to lair ¹, lie ²

Explanation

Fellow is an old fashioned word for “guy.” If you’re wearing a top hat, you may address someone as “my good fellow.” It’s also a non-stuffy word to describe people in the same situation, such as you and your fellow Vocabulary.com fans. Other words for fellow include "chap" and "dude." A fellow can also be someone’s boyfriend, as in “Is he your fellow?” an interested suitor might ask. Another kind of fellow is an academic who's either reached a high position or won a prestigious scholarship. A MacArthur Fellow, for example, is a person who won a MacArthur fellowship (a well-deserved hunk of money). Fellow comes from an Old English word, feolaga, "one who shares with another."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fellow Fellow fellows

Amy Dowden has credited her best friend and fellow Strictly Come Dancing professional Carlos Gu with convincing her not to "hang up her dancing shoes" following her cancer treatment.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

As Kip says, Lord Suffolk is the first person to treat him like a fellow Englishman and not a foreigner.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

Senators from both parties entered in procession behind Tim Scott, Graham's fellow South Carolina Republican, as a US Army brass quintet played "Amazing Grace" and "America the Beautiful."

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

But as economic growth became more widespread later in the 2010s, families started leaving for opportunities elsewhere, said Connor O’Brien, a fellow at think tank the Institute for Progress.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Impulsively, she said, “Dr. Westminster, there is a fellow at Ashton Place who serves as head coachman. He goes by the name of Old Timothy. I believe he may be an acquaintance of yours?”

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

Fellow co-star and Mexican actress Eiza González said her "heart is absolutely broken" as she posted a photo of them posing in costume.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Fellow miner Patryk Paja hopes to follow the same path soon.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Fellow Americans Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins will be assistant referees while Italian Maurizio Mariani is the fourth official.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

She is also a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, with an interest in Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean literature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

Fellow “garden-lovers” and even some distinguished natural philosophers welcomed the work of this “ingenious woman,” for many of these metamorphoses had never been observed before.

From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman

UCL's dinosaur evolution team includes five academics along with research fellows, postdoctoral researchers, and more than 10 PhD students.

From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026

“I’m not going to be speaking in my first language. And that’s something I think my Mexican fellows can be inspired by, right? That I don’t go to my comfort zone,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

So far, the head of the institute has said the only reasons to strip fellows of their titles is if they’ve conducted scientific misconduct, things like falsifying data, Twelvetrees said.

From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026

A special initiative promised to recruit 30 postdoctoral fellows and “open the gateway” for them to fill tenure-track jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026

The fellows over there are well looked after; they fare magnificently, as against us, poor starving wretches, with our turnip jam; they can get all the meat they want.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

Related Words

• boy
• chap
• dude
• guy
• lad
• man