Colleague

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒliːɡ/

Definitions

1. A professional associate with whom one shares a workplace or tasks, forming part of a collaborative team within an organization or industry
2. An individual who works alongside another in a professional environment, contributing to shared tasks and goals while being part of a workplace community
3. A person who works together with others in the same job or workplace as a partner or team member

Etymology: The Latin "collega" meant a partner in an official post, and its literal sense is more concrete than the modern office-worker meaning suggests. It is built from "com-", meaning "with", and "lēgō", a verb meaning "to send on an embassy" or to dispatch someone as an envoy. The ultimate source of that verb is "lēx", "law", so a colleague was, at root, someone sent out alongside you on the same official business. The word passed into Middle French as "collegue" and reached English from there. Its earliest sense was close to the Latin one, a fellow holder of an office or a joint member of a body such as a council or a college. The broader sense of anyone working alongside you in a job developed from that idea of shared official duty.

Synonyms: associate, co-worker, peer, partner, fellow

Antonyms: rival, opponent, enemy, competitor, adversary