colleague

From Middle French collegue, from Latin collēga (“a partner in office”), from com- (“with”) + lēgō (“to send on an embassy”), from lēx (“law”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒliːɡ/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑliɡ/

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔliːɡ/
• (Malaysia, Singapore) IPA^(key): /kəˈliːɡ/
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /kɔˈliːɡ/
• Hyphenation: col‧league
• Rhymes: (Malaysian, Singaporean) -iːɡ

colleague (plural colleagues)

1. A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate.
   • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

     Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. […] Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism. Dr Yoshimoto and his colleagues would like to add liver cancer to that list.

• coworker
• workmate
• confrère
• See also Thesaurus:associate

• collegial
• collegiate

Do not confuse with:

• college (distant cognate, from Latin)
• collage

colleague (third-person singular simple present colleagues, present participle colleaguing, simple past and past participle colleagued)

1. To unite or associate with another or with others.

   Young Fortinbras,/ Holding a weak supposal of our worth/...Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,/...hath not failed to pester us with message/ Importing the surrender of those lands/Lost by his father. - Hamlet (Act I, Scene 2)

• “colleague”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “colleague”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.