colonel

UK: 'colonel', 'Colonel': /ˈkɜːnəl/ US: /ˈkɝnəl/ ,(kûr′nl)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

colo•nel /ˈkɜrnəl/   n. [countable]

1. Military an officer in the U.S. Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps ranking above lieutenant colonel.
2. Military an officer of similar rank in other nations.

colo•nel•cy, n. [uncountable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

colo•nel  (kûr′nl), n. 

1. Military an officer in the U.S. Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps ranking between lieutenant colonel and brigadier general: corresponding to a captain in the U.S. Navy.
2. Military a commissioned officer of similar rank in the armed forces of some other nations.
3. an honorary title bestowed by some Southern states, as to those who have brought honor to the state, prominent businesspersons, visiting celebrities, or the like:
   When the vice president visited the state he was made a Kentucky colonel.
4. Slang Terms [Older Use.] (in the South) a title of respect prefixed to the name of distinguished elderly men.

• Latin -ellus diminutive suffix; so named because such an officer origin, originally headed the first column or company of a regiment
• Italian colon(n)ello = colonn(a) column + -ello
• Middle French
• 1540–50;

colo ′nel•cy, n. 
Pronunciation

Colonel (kûr′nl), with its medial l pronounced as (r), illustrates one source for the apparent vagaries of English spelling: divergence between a word's orthographic development and its established pronunciation. In this case, English borrowed from French two variant forms of the same word, one pronounced with medial and final (l), and a second reflecting dissimilation of the first (l) to (r). After a period of competition, the dissimilated form triumphed in pronunciation, while the spelling colonel became the orthographic standard.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

colonel / ˈkɜːn^əl/ noun

1. an officer of land or air forces junior to a brigadier but senior to a lieutenant colonel

Etymology: 16th Century: via Old French, from Old Italian colonnello column of soldiers, from colonna column

ˈcolonelcy, ˈcolonelˌship noun