brethren
/ˈbɹɛðɹən/
brethren noun: kinsmen. Also the plural of brother.
Noun (1)
brethren
Noun (2)
brethren pl (plural only)
- The body of members, especially of a fraternal, religious or military order.
Adjective
brethren (comparative more brethren, superlative most brethren)
Noun (3) capitalized: Brethren
Brethren pl (plural only)
- Members of any congregation in the Anabaptist tradition of the Schwarzenau Brethren, practicing credobaptism and committed to nonresistance and nonviolence, some of whom may wear plain dress and shun modern technology.
- Members of the Church of the Brethren.
Also used as
brethren is also the plural of brother.
brethren meaning in Bengali
brethren in Bengali
- the body of members
- ভ্রাতৃবর্গ bhratriborgo
Examples of brethren in a sentence
- Of the sons of Uzziel; Amminadab the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twelve.
- The plural English word brethren and the Farsi word that is pronounced as 'baradaran' both come from the same Proto-Indo-European root word.
- For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
Synonyms of brethren
Forms of brethren
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | brethern |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bretheren |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more brethren |
| superlative | most brethren |
Origin of brethren
From Early Modern English brethren, plural of brother, from Middle English brethren, from Middle English brethere, brether + -en (plural ending). Ultimately from Old English brōþor, brōþru (“brothers, brethren”), influenced by Old English brēþer, dative singular of brōþor (“brother”). Equivalent to brother + -en (plural ending). Compare German Brüder (“brothers, brethren”). More at brother. The vowel change (from o to e) is called umlaut.
Specific use of brethren as a semantic loan from German Brüder.
Words formed from brethren
- blood brethren
- bredrin
- brethren in arms
- brethren-in-law
- co-brethren
- half brethren
- half-brethren
- lay brethren
- Social Brethren
- step-brethren
- stepbrethren
- United Brethren
- uterine brethren
- womb-brethren
- River Brethren
Phrases with brethren
Words that rhyme with brethren
Questions about brethren
- What does brethren mean?
- Brethren means kinsmen.
- What is brethren in Bengali?
- Brethren in Bengali is ভ্রাতৃবর্গ (bhratriborgo). See Brethren meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is brethren?
- Brethren can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce brethren?
- Brethren is pronounced /ˈbɹɛðɹən/.
Words near brethren in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brethren (page history and authors); Brethren (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-brethren.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-brethren.wav.
Cite this entry: “brethren.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brethren. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.