Standard Lemma guide

colic

adj · noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • kŏlĭk
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈkɒl.ɪk/
  • rhymes with -ɒlɪk

1

adj

Meaning 1

Relating to the colon; colonic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Severe pains that grip the abdomen or the disease that causes such pains (due to intestinal or bowel-related problems).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Severe fussiness and crying, especially of infants with certain medical conditions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A medicinal plant used to relieve such symptoms.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

acute abdominal pain (especially in infants)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: intestinal colic, gripes, griping

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pain, hurting

Narrower terms: lead colic, painter's colic

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French colique. Ultimately derived from Ancient Greek κωλικός (kōlikós, “suffering in the colon”, adjective).

Across languages

Translations

54 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: paksusuoli- — relating to the colon
  • Finnish: paksusuolen — relating to the colon
  • French: colique — relating to the colon
  • Portuguese: cólico — relating to the colon
  • Serbo-Croatian: količki — relating to the colon
  • Arabic: مَغْص (maḡṣ) — abdominal pain
  • Arabic: قُولَنْج (qūlanj) — abdominal pain
  • Arabic: قَوْلِنْج (qawlinj) — abdominal pain
  • Bulgarian: ко́лика (kólika) — abdominal pain
  • Bulgarian: ко́лики (kóliki) — abdominal pain
  • Catalan: còlic — abdominal pain
  • Czech: kolika — abdominal pain
  • Dutch: koliek — abdominal pain
  • Finnish: koliikki — abdominal pain
  • French: colique — abdominal pain
  • Galician: cólico — abdominal pain
  • Galician: torzón — abdominal pain
  • German: Kolik — abdominal pain
  • Ancient Greek: στρόφος (stróphos) — abdominal pain
  • Icelandic: kveisa — abdominal pain
  • Icelandic: magakveisa — abdominal pain
  • Indonesian: kolik — abdominal pain
  • Irish: aileacó — abdominal pain
  • Irish: coiliceam — abdominal pain
  • Irish: treighid — abdominal pain
  • Italian: colica — abdominal pain
  • Japanese: 疝気 (senki) — abdominal pain
  • Latin: tormina — abdominal pain
  • Macedonian: ко́лика (kólika) — abdominal pain
  • Macedonian: ко́лики (kóliki) — abdominal pain
  • Macedonian: грч (grč) — abdominal pain
  • Māori: haku — abdominal pain
  • Māori: kōngarangara — abdominal pain
  • Māori: kōrangaranga — abdominal pain
  • Māori: pohopiri — abdominal pain
  • Persian: کولنج (kolenj) — abdominal pain
  • Persian: قولنج (qolenj) — abdominal pain
  • Polish: kolka — abdominal pain
  • Portuguese: cólica — abdominal pain
  • Russian: ко́лика (kólika) — abdominal pain
  • Russian: ко́лики (kóliki) — abdominal pain
  • Russian: резь (rezʹ) — abdominal pain
  • Serbo-Croatian: гр̏ч — abdominal pain
  • Serbo-Croatian: ко̀лике — abdominal pain
  • Serbo-Croatian: gȑč — abdominal pain
  • Serbo-Croatian: kòlike — abdominal pain
  • Spanish: cólico — abdominal pain
  • Swedish: kolik — abdominal pain
  • Tagalog: apad — abdominal pain
  • Tamil: வயிற்றுவலி (vayiṟṟuvali) — abdominal pain
  • Turkish: kolik — abdominal pain
  • Ukrainian: ко́лька (kólʹka) — abdominal pain
  • Ukrainian: ко́ліка (kólika) — abdominal pain
  • Woiwurrung: jarren-nen — abdominal pain