colon

See also: Colon, cólon, colón, còlon, côlon, and Colón

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkəʊ.lən/, /ˈkəʊ.lɒn/
  • (US) enPR: kō'lən, IPA(key): /ˈkoʊ.lən/, /ˈkɔ.lən/, [ˈkʰɔ.ɫn̩]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊlən
  • Rhymes: -əʊlɒn

Etymology 1

From Latin cōlon (a member of a verse of poem), from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon, a member, limb, clause, part of a verse).

Noun

colon (plural colons or cola)

  1. The punctuation mark :.
    • 2005, William Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, Penguin Press, page 15:
      A colon tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause.
  2. (rare) The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
  3. (rhetoric) A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
  4. (palaeography) A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Punctuation

Etymology 2

From Latin cŏlon (large intestine), from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon, the large intestine, also food, meat, fodder).

Noun

colon (plural colons or cola or coli)

  1. (anatomy) Part of the large intestine; the final segment of the digestive system, after (distal to) the ileum and before (proximal to) the rectum. (Because the colon is the largest part of the large intestine (constituting most of it), it is often treated as synonymous therewith in broad or casual usage.)
Meronyms
Holonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Etymology 3

From French colon.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /kəˈlɒn/
  • (US) IPA(key): /kəˈloʊn/,[1] /koʊ.loʊn/[2]

Noun

colon (plural colons)

  1. (obsolete) A husbandman.
  2. A European colonial settler, especially in a French colony.
    • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 28:
      The reaction of the European colons, a mixture of shock and fear, was to demand further draconian measures and to suspend any suggestion of new reforms.
Alternative forms

Further reading

  1. ^ colon”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ colon”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

Asturian

Noun

colon m (plural cólones)

  1. (anatomy) colon (digestive system)

Catalan

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin colōnus.

Noun

colon m (plural colons, feminine colona, feminine plural colones)

  1. colonist, settler
  2. farmer during the Roman Empire

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish colón.

Noun

colon m (plural colons)

  1. (numismatics) colón (currency unit of Costa Rica, and formerly of El Salvador)

Further reading

Esperanto

Noun

colon

  1. accusative singular of colo

French

FWOTD – 8 July 2017

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin colōnus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɔ.lɔ̃/

Noun

colon m (plural colons)

  1. colonist, colonizer, colonial settler
    • 2009, Laurent Lamoine, Le Pouvoir locale en Gaule romaine, page 240:
      Sous les auspices du dictateur A. Cornelius Cossus, les Romains viennent de remporter une victoire sur leurs voisins Volsques, Latins et Herniques, associés aux colons romains en rébellion de Circéi et Vélitrae.
      Under the dictator A. Cornelius Cossus's auspice, the Romans had just achieved a victory over their Volscian, Latin, and Hernician neighbours, associated with rebellious Roman colonists of Circeii and Velitrae.
    • 1925, Nguyễn Ái Quốc, “V - Les civilisateurs”, in Le procès de la colonisation française; translated as “V — The Civilizers”, in French Colonization on Trial (Selected Works of Hồ Chí Minh; 1)‎[1], 1st edition, Paris: Foreign Languages Press, 2021, page 288:
      Qu'ils soient militaires ou colons, ils ne conçoivent pas ordinairement d'autres formes de relations avec l'indigène que celles dont ils usent avec leurs domestiques.
      Whether they are military men or colonial settlers, they normally visualize no other kind of relations with the natives than those they have with their servants.
  2. camper (child in a colonie de vacances)
    • 2015, José Casatéjada, Via Compostela: Des Monts du Velay à la Costa da Morte, page 243:
      Une fois encore, ils me ramènent à mon enfance, aux colonies de vacances. Avec les autres petits colons, mes frères et moi trottions sur les chemins de traverse pour aller jouer dans les près ou à la rivière.
      Once again, they take me back to my childhood, to the summer camps. Together with other little campers, my brothers and I trotted on the shortcuts to go play in the meadows or by the river.
  3. sharecropper in the system of colonat partiaire
  4. (vulgar, Canada) hillbilly, hick

Etymology 2

See côlon.

Noun

colon

  1. misspelling of côlon

Further reading

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of colonel.[2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɔ.lɔ̃/

Noun

colon m

  1. (military slang) colonel
Derived terms
  • mon colon (interjection)

Interlingua

Noun

colon (uncountable)

  1. (anatomy) colon

Italian

Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from Latin colon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɔ.lon/
  • Rhymes: -ɔlon
  • Hyphenation: cò‧lon

Noun

colon m (invariable)

  1. (anatomy) colon (part of the body)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Unadapted borrowing from Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɔ.lon/
  • Rhymes: -ɔlon
  • Hyphenation: cò‧lon

Noun

colon m (plural cola)

  1. colon (punctuation mark)

Etymology 3

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish colón.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /koˈlɔn/
  • Rhymes: -ɔn
  • Hyphenation: co‧lòn

Noun

colon m (plural colones)

  1. alternative form of colón

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

Pronunciation

Noun

colon n (genitive colī); second declension

  1. (anatomy) The colon; large intestine
  2. colic, a disease of the colon
Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).

singular plural
nominative colon cola
genitive colī colōrum
dative colō colīs
accusative colon cola
ablative colō colīs
vocative colon cola
Descendants

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

cōlon n (genitive cōlī); second declension

  1. a member or part of a verse of a poem
Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).

Synonyms
Descendants

References

  • colon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • colon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • colon”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French côlon.

Noun

colon m (plural coloni)

  1. colon

Declension

Declension of colon
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative colon colonul coloni colonii
genitive-dative colon colonului coloni colonilor
vocative colonule colonilor

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkolon/ [ˈko.lõn]
  • Audio (Colombia):(file)
  • Rhymes: -olon
  • Syllabification: co‧lon

Etymology 1

From Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

Noun

colon m (plural cólones)

  1. (grammar) colon (punctuation mark)

Etymology 2

From Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

Noun

colon m (plural cólones)

  1. (anatomy) colon (part of the large intestine)
Derived terms

Further reading

Welsh

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English colon from Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

Noun

colon m (plural colonau)

  1. (grammar) colon (punctuation mark)
Derived terms
  • hanner colon (semicolon)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English colon from Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

Noun

colon m or f

  1. (anatomy) colon (part of the large intestine)

Etymology 3

Noun

colon f or m (plural colonnau)

  1. alternative form of colofn (column)

Mutation

Mutated forms of colon
radical soft nasal aspirate
colon golon ngholon cholon

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

  • D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “colon”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
  • Delyth Prys, J.P.M. Jones, Owain Davies, Gruffudd Prys (2006) Y Termiadur: termau wedi'u safoni; standardised terminology[3] (in Welsh), Cardiff: Awdurdod cymwysterau, cwricwlwm ac asesu Cymru (Qualifications curriculum & assessment authority for Wales), →ISBN
  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “colon”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies