colo·nel / ˈkərnl/ • n. an army officer of high rank, in particular (in the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps) an officer above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general. ∎ inf. short for lieutenant colonel.DERIVATIVES: colo·nel·cy / ˈkərnlsē/ n. (pl. -cies) .ORIGIN: mid 16th cent.: from obsolete French coronel (earlier form of colonel), from Italian colonnello ‘column of soldiers,’ from colonna ‘column,’ from Latin columna. The form coronel, source of the modern pronunciation, was usual until the mid 17th cent.

colonel XVI. In earliest use both coronel and colonel, but the first prevailed before mid-XVII. — F. †coronel (so also Sp.), later and mod. colonnei — (orig. with dissimilation of l..l to r..l) It. colonnello, f. colonna COLUMN, the officer being so named as leader of the first company of a regiment.