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