Confreres

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collective of individuals working in the same profession uniting for collaboration and support
2. Individuals belonging to a shared community or organization with a focus on mutual assistance and friendship
3. People who share the same profession or are members of the same group, often collaborating and supporting each other

Etymology: "Confreres" is the plural of "confrere," and the word has been through two separate arrivals in English. Its ancestor is the Latin "confrāter," literally "with-brother" (from "con-," "together," and "frāter," "brother"), a term for a fellow member of a religious community or guild. It passed into Old French as "confrere," and English first took it in that older form, using it in a sense close to "fellow member of a brotherhood." That early English use faded out during the 17th century and disappeared from common use. Then, in the mid-1700s, English writers borrowed the word again, this time directly from Modern French "confrère," which had kept the broader sense of a colleague or fellow professional. The modern meaning of people sharing a profession or group therefore comes from that second borrowing, while the older sense survives only in the word's history.

Synonyms: colleagues, associates, peers, comrades