colon
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
- 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.
- (rare) The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
- (rhetoric) A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
- (palaeography) A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.
Synonyms
- (punctuation mark): colon-point (obsolete)
Derived terms
Translations
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See also
- apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
- curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
- square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
- ( : )
- comma ( , )
- dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
- ellipsis ( … )
- exclamation mark ( ! )
- fraction slash ( ⁄ )
- guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
- hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
- interpunct ( · )
- interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
- brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
- full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
- question mark ( ? )
- quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
- quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
- semicolon ( ; )
- slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
- space ( ] [ )
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)
- (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
- (segment of digestive system): large intestine, large bowel
Derived terms
- ascending colon
- colectomy
- colic
- coliform
- colitis
- colocolonic
- colon cleansing
- colonectomy
- colonic
- colonic irrigation
- colonitis
- colonocyte
- colonogenic
- colonogram
- colonography
- colonoid
- colonopathy
- colonoscope
- colonoscopy
- colostomy
- colovaginoplasty
- descending colon
- dolichocolon
- hemicolon
- microcolon
- midcolon
- pneumocolon
- redundant colon
- sigmoid colon
- spastic colon
- transverse colon
Translations
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See also
Etymology 3
Pronunciation
Noun
colon (plural colons)
- (obsolete) A husbandman.
- 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
- https://web.archive.org/web/20050326041700/http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/C/colon.htm Part of a glossary of classical rhetorical terms.
- “colon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “colon”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “colon”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- ^ “colon”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- ^ “colon”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Anagrams
Asturian
Noun
colon m (plural cólones)
Catalan
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Noun
colon m (plural colons, feminine colona, feminine plural colones)
Related terms
Etymology 2
Noun
colon m (plural colons)
- (numismatics) colón (currency unit of Costa Rica, and formerly of El Salvador)
Further reading
- “colon”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
Esperanto
Noun
colon
- accusative singular of colo
French
Etymology 1
Learned borrowing from Latin colōnus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ.lɔ̃/
Noun
colon m (plural colons)
- 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.
- 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.
- sharecropper in the system of colonat partiaire
- (vulgar, Canada) hillbilly, hick
Related terms
Etymology 2
See côlon.
Noun
colon
- misspelling of côlon
Further reading
- “colon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Etymology 3
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ.lɔ̃/
Noun
colon m
Derived terms
- mon colon (interjection)
Interlingua
Noun
colon (uncountable)
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)
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)
- colon (punctuation mark)
Etymology 3
Unadapted borrowing from Spanish colón.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /koˈlɔn/
- Rhymes: -ɔn
- Hyphenation: co‧lòn
Noun
colon m (plural colones)
- alternative form of colón
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology 1
From Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkɔ.ɫɔn]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkɔː.lon]
Noun
colon n (genitive colī); second declension
- (anatomy) The colon; large intestine
- 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
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkoː.ɫɔn]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkɔː.lon]
Noun
cōlon n (genitive cōlī); second declension
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cōlon | cōla |
| genitive | cōlī | cōlōrum |
| dative | cōlō | cōlīs |
| accusative | cōlon | cōla |
| ablative | cōlō | cōlīs |
| vocative | cōlon | cōla |
Synonyms
- (member of a verse): membrum
Descendants
- → English: colon
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
Noun
colon m (plural coloni)
Declension
| 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)
Etymology 2
From Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).
Noun
colon m (plural cólones)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “colon”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
Welsh
Pronunciation
- (North Wales) IPA(key): /ˈkɔlɔn/
- (South Wales) IPA(key): /ˈkoːlɔn/, /ˈkɔlɔn/
Etymology 1
Borrowed from English colon from Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).
Noun
colon m (plural colonau)
Derived terms
- hanner colon (“semicolon”)
Etymology 2
Borrowed from English colon from Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).
Noun
colon m or f
Etymology 3
Noun
colon f or m (plural colonnau)
- alternative form of colofn (“column”)
Mutation
| 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