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English colonel is pronounced the same as kernel. This seems odd, but there is an explanation. In many languages when a word contains two identical or similar sounds, one of these sounds will often change over a period of time. This kind of change is called dissimilation. So when the Italian word colonello was taken into French, it became coronel; and the word was borrowed by the English from the French in this form. Later the spelling colonel came to be used in order to reflect the Italian origin of the word. But by then the pronunciation with r was well established.
Examples of colonel in a Sentence
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 7 May 2025
Former governor and congressman Archibald Yell, who had resigned his position in Congress specifically to be part of the war effort, was selected as colonel of the unit, with John Selden Roane and Solon Borland elected as lieutenant colonel and major, respectively.
—Arkansas Online, 3 May 2025
The Air Force Colonel In late spring of 1975, Ray Beery had been an Air Force colonel with command experience in Vietnam, sweating it out in the sticky panhandle air of Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base.
—Jennifer Brookland, Mercury News, 27 Apr. 2025
McCullough, a 37-year veteran, rejoined the department following his retirement in 2021 as a colonel and operations bureau chief.
—Thomas Goodwin Smith, Baltimore Sun, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for colonel
Cite this Entry
“Colonel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colonel. Accessed 19 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
an altered form of earlier coronel "colonel," from early French coronel (same meaning), from early Italian colonnello "colonel, column of soldiers," derived from Latin columna "column" — related to column
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