"同儕" vs "同僚" vs "同事"

Question

I know that 同事 means colleague, but I have seen 同儕 and 同僚 used in similar context. Below are random examples of each I found on google:

在同儕關係中彼此地位平等、較能相互學習。

由於他過度地自負，同僚們不喜歡他。

Are these words interchangeable? If not, how do their meaning differ? In what context is each word used?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

同事 is the most common, plain one. it simply means people you work with or people in the same company as you do. It could be used no matter it is a everyday conversation, a quite formal business meeting or a HR policy notice.

同儕（同侪） means peers or fellows. Strictly it should be used to refer people in the same generation of you, i.e. siblings or cousins. Nowadays, it is often used in the workplace or other contexts when a sense of fraternity is preferable.

同僚 also means colleague. But it's more often used in politic settings in the old times. Nowadays, it can be used in the workplace in general but I feel such usage is more common in Taiwan or Hong Kong than the mainland. Personally, it feels it's more appropriate for two managers call each other that than two interns do. Or you can say this one is more fancy than 同事.

Additionally, there is another word 同仁 which equals to 同人 also means colleague. They mean to refer the people who share something in common with you professionally. E.g. works in the same company or occupation. And it is a respectful term with a sense of fraternity. But it more often to be used as a collective term for a group of people rather than a specific person. So 一个同仁 is not very common.

Answer 2

Besides all the comments from other users. I would like to add my own experience (I am native mainland Chinese) on this matter:

1. 同僚: Used more often before, almost never seen nowadays unless people intent to have satire meaning (derogatory sense). I would add some reference when I get a chance.
2. 同事: Almost used ubiquitously for all the meaning people mentioned in modern society - anyone who works with you officially in the same company is referred to this way. Notice in terms of semantics, 同事 is in direct contrast to 朋友 (friends) - much as in western society I guess. But you may consider this a personal opinion because degrees vary. The point is, the subtlety of those terms really is a semantical one because most words in Chinese are not defined by dictionary, but by culture.