• (British) IPA: /ˈbɹʌðə(ɹ)/
• (America) enPR: brŭth'ər, IPA: /ˈbɹʌðɚ/
• (New Zealand) enPR: brŭth'ə(r), IPA: /ˈbɹɐðɘ(ɹ)/
• (th-fronting) enPR: brŭvˈə(r), IPA: /ˈbɹʌvə(ɹ)/

brother

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.
   • The Bible, Deuteronomy 23:19 (NKJV)

     You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.

   Thank you, brother.
   I would like to thank the brother who just spoke.
4. (informal, dated) 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 English) A black male.
6. Somebody, usually male, connected by a common cause or situation.
   • 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.

     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.

7. Someone who is a peer, whether male or female.
   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473 ↗:

     And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.

• Abbreviations: bro, brah, bra, bruh, bruv
• friar
• fraternal
• fraternity

• French: frère
• German: Bruder
• Italian: fratello
• Portuguese: irmão
• Russian: брат
• Spanish: hermano

• French: frère
• German: Bruder
• Italian: fratello
• Portuguese: irmão
• Russian: брат
• Spanish: hermano

• French: frère
• German: Bruder
• Italian: fratello, confratello
• Portuguese: frade, irmão
• Spanish: hermano

• French: pair, semblable
• Italian: fratello, pari
• Portuguese: irmão
• Spanish: hermano

brother (brothers, present participle brothering; past and past participle brothered)

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

     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?

• French: fraterniser
• German: verbrüdern

1. Expressing exasperation.

   We're being forced to work overtime? Oh, brother!

brother (plural brothers)

1. Title of respect for an adult male member of a religious or fraternal order.

   At the monastery, Brother Stephen supervises the kitchen.   Please welcome Brother Smith as he moves from his former congregation to his new congregation.

2. Title of respect for an adult male member of a fraternal/sororal organization, or comrade in a movement, or even a stranger using fictive kin.

   Brother, can you spare a dime?

3. A title used to personify or respectfully refer to concepts or animals.

   The Native American had a kinship with nature, even referring to Mother Earth and Brother Bear.

• Br.
• Bro.