colon

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

colon

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊlən

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)

1. The punctuation mark ⟨:⟩.
   • 2005, William Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, Penguin Press, page 15:

     A colon tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause.

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

• colon-point
• semicolon (semi-colon)

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.)

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.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 28:

     The reaction of the European colons, a mixture of shock and fear, was to demand further draconian measures and to suspend any suggestion of new reforms.

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.
• “colon”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →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)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian)

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) colon (currency unit of Costa Rica, and formerly of El Salvador)

Further reading

• “colon” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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
2. settler (in a French colony)
   • Laurent Lamoine, Le Pouvoir locale en Gaule romaine, 2009, 240.

     Sous les auspices du dictateur A. Cornelius Cossus, les Romains viennent de remporter une victoire sur leurs voisins Volsques, Latins et Herniques, associés aux colons romains en rébellion de Circéi et Vélitrae.

3. camper (child in a colonie de vacances)
   • José Casatéjada, Via Compostela: Des Monts du Velay à la Costa da Morte, 2015, 243.

     Une fois encore, ils me ramènant à mon enfance, aux colonies de vacances. Aves les autres petits colons, mes frères et moi trottions sur les chemins de traverse pour aller jouer dans les près ou à la rivière.

4. sharecropper in the system of colonat partiaire
5. (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 , 2012.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of colonel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.lɔ̃/

1. (military slang) colonel

Derived terms

• mon colon (interjection)

Interlingua

Noun

colon (uncountable)

1. (anatomy) colon

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

colon

Wikipedia ^it

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

• colectomia
• colite
• colon ascendente
• colon discendente
• colon sigmoideo
• colon trasverso
• colonscopia
• colostomia
• sindrome del colon irritabile

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) IPA^(key): /ˈko.lon/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.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) IPA^(key): /ˈkoː.lon/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.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/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• 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, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014