Other forms: colleagues
A colleague is someone you work with. The person at the next desk, the one you moan to about the coffee machine and email at eleven at night about the deadline.
It says nothing about friendship — you can dislike a colleague and still call them one, which is exactly what makes the word useful. It says nothing about rank either: your boss and the new intern are both colleagues, though in practice people mean someone at roughly their own level. Colleague is the neutral, slightly formal choice; coworker is the plainer American word and workmate the informal British one. It reaches past one building — a surgeon at another hospital is a colleague, because you share the profession. Watch the spelling: two Ls, and it ends in -eague, like league.
1nouncolleagueA person you work with, especially in a job or profession.
“A colleague covered my shift when the trains stopped.”
synonyms: coworker, workmate
2nounfellowA fellow member of a profession or official body, even one you have never met.
“My colleagues in the German courts take the same view.”
Also accepted in games: coworker, co-worker
Latin collēga meant a partner in office: com-, 'with', joined to lēgō, 'to send on an embassy', which itself grew out of lēx, 'law'. A colleague was someone appointed alongside you to do the state's business. It reached English through Middle French collegue, and the sense has softened all the way down to the person who shares your printer.
Latin
collēga — a partner in office
Middle French
collegue
English, today
colleague
Built from
From Middle French collegue, from Latin collēga (“a partner in office”), from com- (“with”) + lēgō (“to send on an embassy”), from lēx (“law”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA