college

English Online Dictionary. What means college‎? What does college mean?

English

Alternative forms

• colledg, colledge (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English college, from Middle French college, from Old French college, from Latin collēgium. Doublet of collegium.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kŏl′ij, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒlɪd͡ʒ/
  • Rhymes: -ɒlɪdʒ
• enPR: kŏl′āj, (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒleːd͡ʒ/

Noun

college (plural colleges)

2. (education) An academic institution. [From 1560s.]
   1. A specialized division of a university.

   2. (chiefly US) An institution of higher education teaching undergraduates.

   3. (Ireland, Philippines) A university.
   4. (Canada) A postsecondary institution that offers vocational training and/or associate's degrees.
   5. (chiefly UK) A non-specialized, semi-autonomous division of a university, with its own faculty, departments, library, etc.

   7. (UK) An institution of further education at an intermediate level; sixth form.
   8. (UK) An institution for adult education at a basic or intermediate level (teaching those of any age).
   9. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa) A high school or secondary school.

   10. (Australia) A private (non-government) primary or high school.
   11. (Australia) A residential hall associated with a university, possibly having its own tutors.
   12. (Singapore) A government high school, short for junior college.
   13. (in Chile) A bilingual school.
3. (in some proper nouns) A group sharing common purposes or goals.
4. (politics) An electoral college.
5. (obsolete) A corporate group; a group of colleagues.

Synonyms

• (specialized division of a university) department, faculty, school

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• ⇒ Bengali: কলেজ (kolej)
• → Finnish: college
• ⇒ Hindustani:
  • Hindi: कालिज (kālij), कॉलेज (kŏlej), कालेज (kālej)
  • Urdu: کالِج (kālij)
• → Russian: ко́лледж (kólledž), колле́дж (kollédž)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: ко̀леџ

  Latin script: kòledž

• → Slovene: koledž
• → Ukrainian: ко́ле́дж (kólédž)

Translations

See also

• university

Anagrams

• geocell

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch college, from Middle French college, from Latin collēgium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɔˈleː.ʒə/
• Hyphenation: col‧le‧ge
• Rhymes: -eːʒə

Noun

college n (plural colleges, diminutive collegetje n)

1. a collegial board, either advisory (committee) or as an authority

2. a secondary school, a high school, (now Belgium) especially in Roman Catholic education

3. an academic lecture, class

Derived terms

Related terms

• collega

Descendants

• → Indonesian: kolese

Finnish

Etymology

From English college. The "sweatshirt" sense is a pseudo-anglicism and is probably due to the prevalence of college related text on such sweatshirts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkolids(i)/, [ˈko̞lids̠(i)] (especially in the sweatshirt sense)
• IPA^(key): /ˈkolidʒ(i)/, [ˈko̞lidʒ(i)]
• Rhymes: -olids(i)

Noun

college

1. sweatshirt (especially one with text referring to a certain college)
2. college (an institution of higher education)

Declension

This table shows the spoken declension with IPA symbols, which falls nicely into risti -class.

Written declension is more complicated due to the difficulty of combining "college" with risti-type endings. Therefore, it might be advisable to avoid inflecting this word in writing by using synonyms, when available. If one has to, one option is to write as if the pronunciation were Fennicize / Finnicized to /ˈko̞lːe̞ge̞/, in which case the word would fall into nalle-category with the exception that collegeiden seems to be more commonly used as genitive plural than collegejen and collegein is not used as genitive plural:

Synonyms

• (sweatshirt): collegepusero

Derived terms

Further reading

• “college”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Middle English

Alternative forms

• colage, colege, colegg, colegie, collage

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French college, from Old French college, from Latin collēgium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔˈlɛːd͡ʒ(ə)/, /kɔˈlaːd͡ʒ(ə)/, /ˈkɔlɛd͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

college (plural collegis)

1. A group of clergymen (usually dependent on public funds).
2. A group of teachers and students; a university or part of one.
3. A group of colleagues; a team or organisation.

Related terms

• collegial
• collegian
• collegiate

Descendants

• English: college (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: college

References

• “collē̆ǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-12.

Middle French

Alternative forms

• colege, collège, colliege

Etymology

Inherited from Old French college, from Latin collēgium.

Noun

college m (plural colleges)

1. An institution or organization (an organised establishment of people):
   1. A monastery or convent; a monastic institution.
   2. A college (semi-autonomous university institution)

Descendants

• French: collège
  • → Turkish: kolej
• → Middle English: college, colage, colege, colegg, colegie, collage
  • English: college (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: college
• → Dutch: college
  • → Indonesian: kolese

Old French

Alternative forms

• colege, colliege

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin collēgium.

Noun

college oblique singular, m (oblique plural colleges, nominative singular colleges, nominative plural college)

1. institution; organization (an organised establishment of people)

   college des Cardinaux ― College of Cardinals

Descendants

• Middle French: college, colege, collège, colliege
  • French: collège
    • → Turkish: kolej
  • → Middle English: college, colage, colege, colegg, colegie, collage
    • English: college (see there for further descendants)
    • Scots: college
  • → Dutch: college
    • → Indonesian: kolese
• Norman: collège
• → Middle Irish: coláisde
  • Irish: coláiste

References

• “COLLEGE m.”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “collegium”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 896

Polish

Alternative forms

• koledż

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English college. Doublet of kolegium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.lɛt͡ʂ/
• Rhymes: -ɔlɛt͡ʂ
• Syllabification: co‧llege

Noun

college m inan

1. (education) college (specialized division of a university)
2. (education) college (institution of higher education teaching undergraduates)

Declension

Further reading

• college in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• college in Polish dictionaries at PWN