Schoolfellow

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who attends or attended the same school as another
2. A companion from the same educational institution who shares the experience of academic life with another person
3. A peer who shares the same educational background with another person, often forming friendships through shared experiences at school

Etymology: "Schoolfellow" is a plain compound, built from "school" and "fellow." "School" comes from Old English "scōl," borrowed from Latin "schola," which in turn came from Greek "scholē," meaning leisure or spare time, the sense being that learning was what one did with leisure. "Fellow" goes back to Old English "feolaga," a word for a partner or companion, originally tied to the idea of sharing money or property, which is why the word carries a sense of mutual partnership. Put together, a schoolfellow is simply someone who was a companion in the same school. The compound is transparent: the first element places the relationship in a school setting, and the second supplies the sense of a shared, equal bond. No single coinage or famous first use stands behind it, so its history is the history of its two parts joined into a description of the people who sat beside one another in the classroom.

Synonyms: classmate, peer, colleague, fellow student, co-learner

Antonyms: teacher, instructor, mentor, superior, authority