colonel
/ˈkɜːnəl/noun, verb
colonel is spelled C-O-L-O-N-E-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “colonel vs kernel” about 320 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, colonel means “A commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of colonel is colonels.
How many letters and syllables are in colonel?
| Letters | 7: C-O-L-O-N-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 26 times per million words; the 3,558th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is colonel?
Colonel appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th 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 colonel?
- UK /ˈkɜːnəl/
- UK [ˈkɜːnl̩] ~ [ˈkəː.nl̩]
- British /ˈkəːnəl/
Colonel 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-colonel.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-colonel.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-Colonel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with colonel
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: kernel (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: coronal, coronel.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with colonel?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as colonel from its last stressed vowel (/ɜnəl/, British pronunciation):
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 colonel
- colonels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- col.
- coloneling US, participle, present
- colonelling UK, participle, present
- coloneled US, participle, past
- colonelled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does colonel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).
- 2
A military leader, distinct from the modern professional military rank.
- 3
An honorary civilian title bestowed by some southern US states, most commonly Kentucky; notably Colonel Sanders of KFC.
- 4
datedAn informal title used to address an elderly man.
- 5
USA form of address for an auctioneer, from the American Civil War practice of commanding officers organizing the public sale of seized goods.
verb
- 1
To act as or like a colonel.
noun
- 1
The military officer title.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate colonel?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of colonel: Col., col..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Colonel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense commissioned office in the armed services:
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 colonel come from?
First attested in the 1540s, from Middle French coronnel, from Old Italian colonnello (“the officer of a small company of soldiers (column) that marched at the head of a regiment”), from compagnia colonnella (“little column company”), from Latin columna (“pillar”), originally a collateral form of columen, contraction culmen (“a pillar, top, crown, summit”), o-grade form from a Proto-Indo-European *kelH- (“to rise, be elevated, be prominent”). See hill, holm. The French spelling was reformed late 16th century.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).