Meaning & use
fella
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A casual word for a man or boy.
Grammar: Informal and spoken: a nice fella; often follows an adjective.
Patterns
- a nice fella
- a young fella
He is a decent fella who helps everyone on the street.
Some fella at the garage fixed my tire for free.
That young fella plays guitar every evening.
nounusually pluralinformal
A friendly way of addressing men or a mixed group of friends, usually in the plural.
Grammar: In address, often fellas: Come on, fellas.
Patterns
- the fellas
- hey, fellas
Hey, fellas, who wants pizza?
I am meeting the fellas after work.
Thanks, fellas, I owe you one.
nouncountableinformalIrishBritish
A woman's boyfriend or male partner, in some varieties of English.
Grammar: Used with a possessive: her fella; especially Irish and British.
Patterns
- someone's fella
She brought her fella to the wedding.
Is your fella cooking tonight?
Her fella works on the ferries.
Word forms
| plural | fellas |
|---|
Common combinations
- a nice fella
- Your neighbor seems like a nice fella.
- young fella
- The young fella at the counter helped us.
- old fella
- An old fella sat feeding the pigeons.
- the fellas
- The fellas are playing cards tonight.
- some fella
- Some fella called asking about the car.
Synonyms and how they differ
- guy
- Guy is the American everyday equivalent, while fella has a folksy, slightly old-fashioned or Irish flavor.
- bloke
- Bloke is British and Australian, whereas fella is understood across several varieties of English.
- chap
- Chap sounds more polite and British, a little old-fashioned next to fella.
- fellow
- Fellow is the standard spelling and works in writing, while fella marks relaxed speech.
Opposites
Word family
- fellow noun
- a man or companion; the standard form
- fellowship noun
- friendly association; also an academic award
- fellas noun
- plural, also used in friendly address
Commonly confused: fella or fellow? fella or feller?
fella vs fellow
Fellow is the standard written word, also used as an adjective such as fellow citizens; fella is only the casual spoken form.
fella vs feller
Feller is another spelling of the same casual word; also a person who cuts down trees, spelled the same.
Practice
Which sentence uses fella correctly for a relaxed conversation?
Choose one answer.
Fella is a casual word for a man. The other sentences need formal fellow or a different word, so fella is out of place.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fella”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.