Standard Lemma guide

colonel

noun · verb · 8 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɜː.nl̩/
  • Received-Pronunciation: [ˈkɜː.nl̩]
  • General-American: /ˈkɝ.nl̩/
  • General-American: [ˈkɝ.nl̩]
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: kernel (most accents)
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)nəl
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K ER1 N AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A military leader, distinct from the modern professional military rank.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An honorary civilian title bestowed by some southern US states, most commonly Kentucky; notably Colonel Sanders of KFC.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An informal title used to address an elderly man.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Southern-US, dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A form of address for an auctioneer, from the American Civil War practice of commanding officers organizing the public sale of seized goods.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The military officer title.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To act as or like a colonel.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines who ranks above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: commissioned military officer

Narrower terms: lieutenant colonel, light colonel

History

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.

Capitalization of colonel.

Across languages

Translations

97 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: kolonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Albanian: kolonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Arabic: عَقِيد (ʕaqīd) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Arabic: زَعِيم (zaʕīm) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Arabic: زَعِيم رُتْبَة (zaʕīm rutba) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Arabic: كُولُونِيل (kulunīl) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Armenian: գնդապետ (gndapet) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Aromanian: culunel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Azerbaijani: polkovnik — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Azerbaijani: sərhəng — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Belarusian: палко́ўнік (palkównik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Bengali: কর্নেল (kornel) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Bulgarian: полко́вник (polkóvnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Catalan: coronel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Chinese Cantonese: 上校 (soeng6 gaau3) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Chinese Mandarin: 上校 (shàngxiào) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Czech: plukovník — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Danish: oberst — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Dutch: kolonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Esperanto: kolonelo — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Estonian: kolonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Estonian: polkovnik — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Finnish: eversti — commissioned office in the armed services
  • French: colonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Galician: coronel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Georgian: პოლკოვნიკი (ṗolḳovniḳi) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • German: Oberst — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Greek: συνταγματάρχης (syntagmatárchis) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Greek: σμήναρχος (smínarchos) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Gujarati: કર્નલ (karnal) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Haitian Creole: kolonèl — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Hebrew: אַלּוּף מִשְׁנֶה (alúf mishné) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Hindi: कर्नल (karnal) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Hungarian: ezredes — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Hungarian: óbester — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Indonesian: kolonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Italian: colonnello — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Japanese: 大佐 (taisa) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Kannada: ಕರ್ನಲ್ (karnal) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Kazakh: полковник (polkovnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Khmer: វរសេនីយ៍ឯក (vɔɔrĕəʼseenəy ʼaek) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Korean: 대령 (daeryeong) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Korean: 상좌 (sangjwa) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Northern Kurdish: serheng — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Kyrgyz: полковник (polkovnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Lao: ພັນເອກ (phan ʼēk) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Latvian: pulkvedis — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Lithuanian: pul̃kininkas — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Lithuanian: pul̃kininkė — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Macedonian: полковник (polkovnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Malay: kolonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Maltese: kurunell — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Manx: curnal — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Māori: kānara — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Marathi: कर्नल (karnal) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Mongolian: хурандаа (xurandaa) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Mongolian: ᠬᠤᠷᠠᠩᠳᠠ (qurangda) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Norman: coronel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oberst — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Pashto: ډګروال (ḍagarwāl) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Pashto: کرنل (karnal) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Pashto: کرنيل (karnayl) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Iranian Persian: سَرْهَنْگ (sarhang) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Iranian Persian: کُلُنِل (kolonel) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Polish: pułkownik — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Portuguese: coronel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Romanian: colonel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Romanian: polcovnic — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Russian: полко́вник (polkóvnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Serbo-Croatian: пу̀ко̄внӣк — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Serbo-Croatian: пуковница — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Serbo-Croatian: pùkōvnīk — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Serbo-Croatian: pukovnica — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Sicilian: culunnellu — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Sicilian: culunneḍḍu — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Slovak: plukovník — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Slovene: polkovnik — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Slovene: polkóvnica — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Spanish: coronel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Swedish: överste — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Tagalog: koronel — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Tajik: полковник (polkovnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Tajik: сарҳанг (sarhang) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Tatar: полковник (polqövnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Telugu: కర్నల్ (karnal) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Thai: พันเอก (pan-èek) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Turkish: albay — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Turkmen: polkownik — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Ukrainian: полко́вник (polkóvnyk) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Urdu: کَرْنَل (karnal) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Uyghur: پولكوۋنىك (polkownik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Uyghur: شاڭشياۋ (shangshyaw) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Uzbek: polkovnik — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Vietnamese: đại tá — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Welsh: gyrnol — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Yiddish: פּאָלקאָווניק (polkovnik) — commissioned office in the armed services
  • Yiddish: קאָלאָנעל (kolonel) — commissioned office in the armed services
Real reading context

colonel in complete knowledge articles