colon

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

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊ.lən/, /ˈkəʊ.lɒn/
• (US) enPR: kō'lən, IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊ.lən/, /ˈkɔ.lən/, [ˈkʰɔ.ɫn̩]
• 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

colon (plural colons or cola)

2. The punctuation mark ⟨:⟩.
3. (rare) The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
4. (rhetoric) A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
5. (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

See also

• Wikipedia article on colons (in punctuation)

Punctuation

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)

2. (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

• ascending colon
• transverse colon
• descending colon
• sigmoid colon

Holonyms

• (segment of digestive system): large intestine, large bowel

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Wikipedia article on the colon (in anatomy)
• bowel
• large intestine
• rectum

Etymology 3

From French colon.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəˈlɒn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈloʊn/, /koʊ.loʊn/

Noun

colon (plural colons)

1. (obsolete) A husbandman.
2. A European colonial settler, especially in a French colony.

Alternative forms

• colone

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.

Anagrams

• Locon, locon, lonco

Asturian

Noun

colon m (plural cólones)

1. (anatomy) colon (digestive system)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kuˈlon]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [koˈlon]

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin colōnus.

Noun

colon m (plural colons, feminine colona)

1. colonist, settler
2. farmer during the Roman Empire

Related terms

• colònia

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish colón.

Noun

colon m (plural colons)

1. (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], 2007 April

Esperanto

Noun

colon

1. accusative singular of colo

French

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin colōnus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.lɔ̃/

Noun

colon m (plural colons)

1. colonist, colonizer, colonial settler
2. camper (child in a colonie de vacances)
3. sharecropper in the system of colonat partiaire
4. (vulgar, Canada) hillbilly, hick

Related terms

• colonie
• coloniser

Etymology 2

See côlon.

Noun

colon

1. Misspelling of côlon.

Further reading

• “colon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of colonel.[2]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.lɔ̃/

1. (military slang) colonel

Derived terms

• mon colon (interjection)

Interlingua

Noun

colon (uncountable)

1. (anatomy) colon

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)

1. (anatomy) colon (part of the body)

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)

1. colon (punctuation mark)

Etymology 3

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish colón.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /koˈlɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɔn
• Hyphenation: co‧lòn

Noun

colon m (plural colones)

1. Alternative form of colón

Anagrams

• clono, clonò

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

1. (anatomy) The colon; large intestine
2. colic, a disease of the colon

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).

Descendants

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

Alternative forms

• cōlum
• cōlus

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkoː.ɫɔn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔː.lon]

Noun

cōlon n (genitive cōlī); second declension

1. a member or part of a verse of a poem

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).

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

Borrowed from French côlon.

Noun

colon m (plural coloni)

1. colon

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkolon/ [ˈko.lõn]
• Rhymes: -olon
• Syllabification: co‧lon

Etymology 1

From Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

Noun

colon m (plural cólones)

1. (grammar) colon (punctuation mark)

Etymology 2

From Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

Noun

colon m (plural cólones)

1. (anatomy) colon (part of the large intestine)

Derived terms

• colonoscopia, colonoscopía
• colonoscopio
• megacolon
• mesocolon

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], 2024 December 10

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)

1. (grammar) colon (punctuation mark)

Derived terms

• hanner colon (“semicolon”)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English colon from Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

Noun

colon m or f

1. (anatomy) colon (part of the large intestine)

Etymology 3

Noun

colon f or m (plural colonnau)

1. Alternative form of colofn (“column”)

Mutation

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