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COLONEL
Definition of COLONEL
noun
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).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
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.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
9.1%
of traced words share this origin (2,383)
How it is built
Its etymology also names Portuguese, Spanish.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
COLONEL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 131, 28 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 131, 28 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
COLONEL starts with C and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read CELLNOO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. O and L appear more than once.
Words that start COLONE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found COLONEL?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 131 - and most players walked straight past it.
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