colonel
/ˈkɝnəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.41 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).
noun
A military leader, distinct from the modern professional military rank.
noun
An honorary civilian title bestowed by some southern US states, most commonly Kentucky; notably Colonel Sanders of KFC.
noun
A form of address for an auctioneer, from the American Civil War practice of commanding officers organizing the public sale of seized goods.
American usage
noun
The military officer title.
Example Sentences
- "The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone."
- "General Charles-Maximilian Fiennes was made colonel of the army."
- ""Colonel" was often used as an honorific, indicating no actual military service: between 1792 and 1916, according to Ron Bryant, a curator at the Kentucky Historical Society, 400 of the 650 colonels commissioned were honorary."
- "Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling, And out he rode Colonelling."
- "Consequently the necessity for the reorganization of the Guard, during the ten months’ absence of yourself and Colonels Smith and Banks, could not have been averted under our present Military Code."
Etymology
First attested in the 1540s, from Middle French coronnel, from Old Italian colonnello (“the officer of a small company of soldiers (column) that marched at the head of a regiment”), from compagnia colonnella (“little column company”), from Latin columna (“pillar”), originally a collateral form of columen, contraction culmen (“a pillar, top, crown, summit”), o-grade form from a Proto-Indo-European *kelH- (“to rise, be elevated, be prominent”). See hill, holm. The French spelling was reformed late 16th century. The English spelling was modified in 1580s in learned writing to conform to the Italian form (via translations of Italian military manuals), and differing pronunciations (either with "r" or "l") coexisted until around 1650, where it came to be pronounced with "r" only. Spanish and Portuguese coronel, also from Italian, shows similar evolution by dissimilation and perhaps by influence of corona.
Origin
- Source language: Middle French
- First known use: First attested in the 1540s
Word Breakdown
- Root: *kelH-, coronnel, colonnello, columna
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkɝnəl/
- British English: /ˈkɜːnəl/
Usage
- Dated
- American usage
- Intransitive verb
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Military.