colonel
n. countablen. a high-ranking officer in the army or air force. This person is usually in charge of a large group of soldiers called a regiment.
n. a senior commissioned officer rank in the army, air force, or marine corps, typically ranking above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general.
The colonel ordered the soldiers to return to the base.
After twenty years of service in the infantry, she was finally promoted to the rank of colonel.
The colonel maintained a strict disciplinary code within the regiment, believing that absolute order was the only way to ensure survival during a prolonged siege.
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. The English spelling was modified in 1580s in learned writing to conform to the Italian form (via translations of Italian military manuals), and differing pronunciations (either with "r" or "l") coexisted until around 1650, where it came to be pronounced with "r" only. Spanish and Portuguese coronel, also from Italian, shows similar evolution by dissimilation and perhaps by influence of corona.
Often used as a title before a surname, in which case it is capitalized.
The kernel led the troops.The colonel led the troops.Learners often misspell the word as 'kernel' because the pronunciation /'kɜːrnəl/ does not match the spelling.