Meanings
nouncolleague (plural colleagues)
plural colleagues
- A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate.
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.
2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3
verbcolleague (third-person singular simple present colleagues, present participle colleaguing, simple past and past participle colleagued)
present singular third person colleagues · participle present colleaguing · participle past colleagued · past colleagued
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincollēga“a partner in office”
- Middle Frenchcollegue
- Englishcolleague
From Middle French collegue, from Latin collēga (“a partner in office”), from com- (“with”) + lēgō (“to send on an embassy”), from lēx (“law”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic شَرِيك, شَرِيكَة
- شَرِيك (šarīk)fellow member of a profession
- شَرِيكَة (šarīka)fellow member of a profession
- زَمِيل (zamīl)fellow member of a profession
- زَمِيلَة (zamīla)fellow member of a profession
Bengali সহকর্মী
- সহকর্মী (śohokormi)fellow member of a profession
Bulgarian коле́га, коле́жка
- коле́га (koléga)fellow member of a profession
- коле́жка (koléžka)fellow member of a profession
Catalan col·lega, company
- col·legafellow member of a profession
- companyfellow member of a profession
Chinese Cantonese 同事, 同僚
- 同事fellow member of a profession
- 同僚fellow member of a profession
Chinese Mandarin 同事, 同僚
- 同事 (tóngshì)fellow member of a profession
- 同僚 (tóngliáo)fellow member of a profession
Czech kolega, kolegyně
- kolegafellow member of a profession
- kolegyněfellow member of a profession
Danish kollega, medarbejder
- kollegafellow member of a profession
- medarbejderfellow member of a profession
Dutch collega, medewerker
- collegafellow member of a profession
- medewerkerfellow member of a profession
Estonian kolleeg, kutsekaaslane
- kolleegfellow member of a profession
- kutsekaaslanefellow member of a profession
Finnish kollega, virkaveli
- kollegafellow member of a profession
- virkavelifellow member of a profession
- virkatoverifellow member of a profession
French collègue, confrère
- collèguefellow member of a profession
- confrèrefellow member of a profession
- consœurfellow member of a profession
- confrèsœurfellow member of a profession
German Kollege, Kollegin
- Kollegefellow member of a profession
- Kolleginfellow member of a profession
- Mitarbeiterfellow member of a profession
- Mitarbeiterinfellow member of a profession
Greek συνάδελφος
- συνάδελφος (synádelfos)fellow member of a profession
Hebrew עָמִית, עמיתה
- עָמִית ('amit)fellow member of a profession
- עמיתה ('amita)fellow member of a profession
- קולגה (koléga)fellow member of a profession
Hindi सहकर्मी, साथी
- सहकर्मी (sahkarmī)fellow member of a profession
- साथी (sāthī)fellow member of a profession
Hungarian kolléga, kartárs
- kollégafellow member of a profession
- kartársfellow member of a profession
- munkatársfellow member of a profession
Icelandic starfsfélagi, vinnufélagi
- starfsfélagifellow member of a profession
- vinnufélagifellow member of a profession
- samstarfsmaðurfellow member of a profession
- kollegifellow member of a profession
- félagifellow member of a profession
Indonesian rekan kerja, kolega
- rekan kerjafellow member of a profession
- kolegafellow member of a profession
Irish comhghleacaí
- comhghleacaífellow member of a profession
Italian collega
- collegafellow member of a profession
Japanese 同僚, 同業者
- 同僚 (dōryō)fellow member of a profession
- 同業者 (dōkyōsha)fellow member of a profession
Korean 동료, 동업자
- 동료 (dongnyo)fellow member of a profession
- 동업자 (dong'eopja)fellow member of a profession
Latin collēga
- collēgafellow member of a profession
Latvian kolēģis, kolēģe
- kolēģisfellow member of a profession
- kolēģefellow member of a profession
Lithuanian kolega, bendradarbis
- kolegafellow member of a profession
- bendradarbisfellow member of a profession
Malay rakan sekerja, rakan kerja
- rakan sekerjafellow member of a profession
- rakan kerjafellow member of a profession
Māori hoa mahi
- hoa mahifellow member of a profession
Norwegian Bokmål kollega, medarbeider
- kollegafellow member of a profession
- medarbeiderfellow member of a profession
Polish kolega, koleżanka
- kolegafellow member of a profession
- koleżankafellow member of a profession
Portuguese colega
- colegafellow member of a profession
Romanian coleg, colegă
- colegfellow member of a profession
- colegăfellow member of a profession
Russian колле́га, сослужи́вец
- колле́га (kolléga)fellow member of a profession
- сослужи́вец (soslužívec)fellow member of a profession
- сослужи́вица (soslužívica)fellow member of a profession
- сотру́дник (sotrúdnik)fellow member of a profession
- сотру́дница (sotrúdnica)fellow member of a profession
Slovak kolega, kolegyňa
- kolegafellow member of a profession
- kolegyňafellow member of a profession
Spanish colega, compañero
- colegafellow member of a profession
- compañerofellow member of a profession
Swedish kollega, arbetskamrat
- kollegafellow member of a profession
- arbetskamratfellow member of a profession
- medarbetarefellow member of a profession
Thai เพื่อนร่วมงาน
- เพื่อนร่วมงาน (pʉ̂ʉan-rûuam-ngaan)fellow member of a profession
Turkish çalışma arkadaşı, meslektaş
- çalışma arkadaşıfellow member of a profession
- meslektaşfellow member of a profession
- koldaşfellow member of a profession
- iş arkadaşıfellow member of a profession
Ukrainian коле́га, колежа́нка
- коле́га (koléha)fellow member of a profession
- колежа́нка (koležánka)fellow member of a profession
- співробі́тник (spivrobítnyk)fellow member of a profession
- співробі́тниця (spivrobítnycja)fellow member of a profession
Urdu ساتھی, رَفِیق کار
- ساتھی (sāthī)fellow member of a profession
- رَفِیق کار (rafīq kār)fellow member of a profession
Vietnamese đồng nghiệp
- đồng nghiệpfellow member of a profession
Welsh cyd-weithwr
- cyd-weithwrfellow member of a profession
Yiddish קאָלעג, קאָלעגע
- קאָלעג (koleg)fellow member of a profession
- קאָלעגע (kolege)fellow member of a profession
- קאָלעגין (kolegin)fellow member of a profession
Cite this entry
APA
colleague. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colleague
MLA
“colleague.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colleague. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “colleague,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colleague.
Source: colleague on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.