colon
/ˈkoʊ.lən/noun
colon is spelled C-O-L-O-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, colon means “The punctuation mark ⟨:⟩” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of colon is colons or cola.
How many letters and syllables are in colon?
| Letters | 5: C-O-L-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is colon?
Colon appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce colon?
- UK /ˈkəʊ.lən/
- UK /ˈkəʊ.lɒn/
- US /ˈkoʊ.lən/
As a noun (“A husbandman”): /kəˈlɒn/, /kəˈloʊn/, /ˈkəʊ.lən/.
Colon has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-colon.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-colón.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with colon?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as colon from its last stressed vowel (/oʊlən/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of colon
- colons plural
- cola plural
- coli plural
- colone
- colóns plural
- colones plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does colon mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The punctuation mark ⟨:⟩.
- 2
rareThe triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
- 3
A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
- 4
A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.
- 5
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.)
- 6
obsoleteA husbandman.
- 7
A European colonial settler, especially in a French colony.
noun
- 1
The currency of Costa Rica, divided into 100 céntimos.
- 2
The former currency of El Salvador, divided into 100 centavos (cents), now replaced by the American dollar.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Colon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | deux points , côlon |
| German | Doppelpunkt, Kolon , Grimmdarm |
| Portuguese | dois-pontos , cólon |
| Spanish | dos puntos , colon , colón |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does colon come from?
From Latin cōlon (“a member of a verse of poem”), from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon, “a member, limb, clause, part of a verse”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).