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English colonel is pronounced the same as kernel. This seems odd, but there is an explanation. In many languages when a word contains two identical or similar sounds, one of these sounds will often change over a period of time. This kind of change is called dissimilation. So when the Italian word colonello was taken into French, it became coronel; and the word was borrowed by the English from the French in this form. Later the spelling colonel came to be used in order to reflect the Italian origin of the word. But by then the pronunciation with r was well established.
Examples of colonel in a Sentence
Kristan Hawkins, Newsweek, 6 Feb. 2025
In 2012, Butterfield’s wife contacted a corrections colonel after finding letters from an inmate in his pants pocket, records show.
—Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald, 23 Jan. 2025
Ukraine’s security service said late Monday that the three former commanders — two generals and a colonel — had been accused of failing to protect the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine from the advance of Russian forces last year.
—Maria Varenikova, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2025
Her childhood home in Alexandria, Va., was a violent one, dominated by her strict father, an Army colonel.
—Kim Severson, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for colonel 
Dictionary Entries Near colonel
Cite this Entry
“Colonel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colonel. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
an altered form of earlier coronel "colonel," from early French coronel (same meaning), from early Italian colonnello "colonel, column of soldiers," derived from Latin columna "column" — related to column
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