Fella
A man, a guy, a bloke. The everyday Hiberno-English word for a male of any age. 'Your fella' = your boyfriend or husband; 'the fella over there' = the man in question. Distinct from 'guy' (American) and 'bloke' (British), with its own Norse-derived background.
Etymology
From English 'fellow', itself from Old Norse 'félagi' meaning partner, comrade, or business associate (from 'fé', wealth + 'lagi', layer / one who lays). The standard English form 'fellow' is the bookish version; 'fella' is the relaxed pronunciation that became standard in Hiberno-English speech. The Norse origin is the same root that gave 'felony' (the breaking of a fellowship) and 'fellowship'.
In a sentence
"Your fella's outside on the phone - he says he'll be ten minutes."
Historical notes
Fella is everywhere in Hiberno-English. The construction 'your fella' / 'my fella' is the standard informal way of referring to a partner without naming them: 'I saw your fella in the shop' is sentence-clean and registers as warm, never disparaging. The word covers age and class freely - a child's fella (an imaginary friend), a grandmother's fella (her late husband), a colleague's fella (the man she went to the wedding with). Norse-derived but settled so deep into English-language Irish speech that the etymology is invisible to most users.
Alternate spellings
feller · fellah
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary, entry fellow n. (and fella as informal variant). · dictionary