colonel (English)

Where does "colonel" come from?

The word colonel traces its origins to the Proto-Indo-European *kelH-, meaning 'to rise' or 'be prominent,' which evolved into the Latin word for a pillar, 'columna.' By way of Old Italian, it came to refer to the officer who marched at the head of a 'little column' of soldiers. This term passed into Middle French as coronnel before entering English in the 1540s, eventually settling into its modern spelling and unique pronunciation.

Full etymology tree

colonel (English), 'A commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).'
- borrowed coronnel (Middle French), 'colonel; a middle-ranking military officer'
  - borrowed colonnello (Italian), 'colonel'
    - derived colonna (Italian), 'column, pillar'
      - inherited columna (Latin), 'column, pillar'
        inherited *kolamen (Proto-Italic)
        inherited *kelH- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to rise, to be tall'
    - suffix -ello (Italian), 'suffix used to form noun diminutives from nouns (including proper nouns) and sometimes adjectives and verbs, often with a meliorative or hypocoristic sense'

Direct ancestors

Updated June 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris