colonel

noun

col·o·nel ˈkər-nᵊl

: a commissioned officer in the army, air force, or marine corps ranking above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general

: lieutenant colonel

: a minor titular official of a state especially in southern or midland U.S.

—used as an honorific title

colonelcy

ˈkər-nᵊl-sē

noun

Did you know?

English colonel is pronounced the same as kernel. This seems odd, but there is an explanation. In many languages when a word contains two identical or similar sounds, one of these sounds will often change over a period of time. This kind of change is called dissimilation. So when the Italian word colonello was taken into French, it became coronel; and the word was borrowed by the English from the French in this form. Later the spelling colonel came to be used in order to reflect the Italian origin of the word. But by then the pronunciation with r was well established.

Example Sentences

He retired as a colonel in the air force.

Recent Examples on the Web Gregg Berhalter, the head coach of the United States team, addressed a press conference before the team’s first game, against Wales, like a marine colonel trying to explain an air strike on civilians.

Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 3 Dec. 2022 This brought him face to face with Russian officers, in particular a colonel who dressed in all black and went by the code name Alpha.

Jeffrey Gettleman Finbarr O’reilly, New York Times, 3 Dec. 2022 Heg was an abolitionist and Union Army colonel during the Civil War.

From Usa Today Network And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2022 After the comments, Kadyrov announced that Putin had promoted the Chechen to the rank of colonel general.

Catherine Belton, Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2022 Reds tossed an elderly White colonel, alive, into a railroad locomotive’s firebox.

Adam Hochschild, The Atlantic, 7 Oct. 2022 After the comments, Kadyrov announced that Putin had promoted the Chechen to the rank of colonel general.

Anchorage Daily News, 7 Oct. 2022 Eighty years ago, during World War II, Princess Elizabeth became their honorary colonel.

Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 15 Sep. 2022 The decision left open the possibility that Ukrainian troops could enter the city — home to nearly 300,000 people before Russian’s invasion in February — within days, said Roman Kostenko, a Ukrainian army colonel and member of parliament.

Michael E. Miller, Washington Post, 11 Nov. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'colonel.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Etymology

alteration of coronel, from Middle French, modification of Old Italian colonnello column of soldiers, colonel, diminutive of colonna column, from Latin columna — see column

First Known Use

1548, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of colonel was in 1548

See more words from the same year