# colon
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈkəʊ.lən/, /ˈkəʊ.lɒn/
* (US) enPR: kō'lən, IPA: /ˈkoʊ.lən/, /ˈkɔ.lən/, [ˈkʰɔ.ɫn̩]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊlən

### Etymology 1

From Latin cōlon (“a member of a verse of poem”), from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon, “a member, limb, clause, part of a verse”).

#### Noun

colon (plural colons or cola)
* The punctuation mark ⟨:⟩.
** 2005, William Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, Penguin Press, page 15:A colon tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause.
* (rare) The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
* (rhetoric) A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
* (palaeography) A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.

##### Synonyms

* (punctuation mark): colon-point (obsolete)

##### Derived terms

* colon-point
* dicolon
* semicolon (semi-colon)
* tricolon

##### See also

* Wikipedia article on colons (in punctuation)
Punctuation
* apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
* curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
* square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
* colon ( : )
* comma ( , )
* dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
* ellipsis ( … )
* exclamation mark ( ! )
* fraction slash ( ⁄ )
* guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
* hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
* interpunct ( · )
* interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
* brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
* full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
* question mark ( ? )
* quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
* quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
* semicolon ( ; )
* slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
* space ( ] [ )

### Etymology 2

From Latin cŏlon (“large intestine”), from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon, “the large intestine, also food, meat, fodder”).

#### Noun

colon (plural colons or cola or coli)
* (anatomy) Part of the large intestine; the final segment of the digestive system, after (distal to) the ileum and before (proximal to) the rectum. (Because the colon is the largest part of the large intestine (constituting most of it), it is often treated as synonymous therewith in broad or casual usage.)

##### Meronyms

* ascending colon
* transverse colon
* descending colon
* sigmoid colon

##### Holonyms

* (segment of digestive system): large intestine, large bowel

##### Derived terms

* ascending colon
* colectomy
* colic
* coliform
* colitis
* colocolonic
* colonectomy
* colonic
* colonic irrigation
* colonitis
* colonocyte
* colonogenic
* colonogram
* colonography
* colonoid
* colonopathy
* colonoscope
* colonoscopy
* colostomy
* colovaginoplasty
* descending colon
* dolichocolon
* hemicolon
* microcolon
* midcolon
* pneumocolon
* redundant colon
* sigmoid colon
* spastic colon
* transverse colon

##### See also

* Wikipedia article on the colon (in anatomy)
* bowel
* large intestine
* rectum

### Etymology 3

From French colon.

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /kəˈlɒn/
* (US) IPA: /kəˈloʊn/, /koʊ.loʊn/

#### Noun

colon (plural colons)
* (obsolete) A husbandman.
* A European colonial settler, especially in a French colony.
** 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 28:The reaction of the European colons, a mixture of shock and fear, was to demand further draconian measures and to suspend any suggestion of new reforms.

##### Alternative forms

* colone

### Further reading

* https://web.archive.org/web/20050326041700/http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/C/colon.htm Part of a glossary of classical rhetorical terms.
* “colon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “colon”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “colon”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* ↑ “colon”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* ↑ “colon”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

### Anagrams

* Locon, locon, lonco

## Asturian
### Noun

colon m (plural cólones)
* (anatomy) colon (digestive system)

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [kuˈlon]
* IPA: (Balearic, Valencia) [koˈlon]

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin colōnus.

#### Noun

colon m (plural colons, feminine colona)
* colonist, settler
* farmer during the Roman Empire

##### Related terms

* colònia

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish colón.

#### Noun

colon m (plural colons)
* (numismatics) colón (currency unit of Costa Rica, and formerly of El Salvador)

### Further reading

* “colon” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Esperanto
### Noun

colon
* accusative singular of colo

## French
### Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin colōnus.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɔ.lɔ̃/

#### Noun

colon m (plural colons)
* colonist, colonizer, colonial settler
** Laurent Lamoine, Le Pouvoir locale en Gaule romaine, 2009, 240.
    Sous les auspices du dictateur A. Cornelius Cossus, les Romains viennent de remporter une victoire sur leurs voisins Volsques, Latins et Herniques, associés aux colons romains en rébellion de Circéi et Vélitrae.
** 1925, Nguyễn Ái Quốc, “V - Les civilisateurs”, in Le procès de la colonisation française; translated as “V — The Civilizers”, in French Colonization on Trial (Selected Works of Hồ Chí Minh; 1)‎, 1st edition, Paris: Foreign Languages Press, 2021, page 288:Qu'ils soient militaires ou colons, ils ne conçoivent pas ordinairement d'autres formes de relations avec l'indigène que celles dont ils usent avec leurs domestiques.Whether they are military men or colonial settlers, they normally visualize no other kind of relations with the natives than those they have with their servants.
* camper (child in a colonie de vacances)
** José Casatéjada, Via Compostela: Des Monts du Velay à la Costa da Morte, 2015, 243.
    Une fois encore, ils me ramènant à mon enfance, aux colonies de vacances. Aves les autres petits colons, mes frères et moi trottions sur les chemins de traverse pour aller jouer dans les près ou à la rivière.
* sharecropper in the system of colonat partiaire
* (vulgar, Canada) hillbilly, hick

##### Related terms

* colonie
* coloniser

### Etymology 2

See côlon.

#### Noun

colon
* Misspelling of côlon.

#### Further reading

* “colon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Etymology 3

Abbreviation of colonel.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɔ.lɔ̃/
* (military slang) colonel

#### Derived terms

* mon colon (interjection)

## Interlingua
### Noun

colon (uncountable)
* (anatomy) colon

## Italian
### Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from Latin colon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɔ.lon/
* Rhymes: -ɔlon
* Hyphenation: cò‧lon

#### Noun

colon m (invariable)
* (anatomy) colon (part of the body)

##### Derived terms

* colectomia
* colite
* colon ascendente
* colon discendente
* colon sigmoideo
* colon trasverso
* colonscopia
* colostomia
* sindrome del colon irritabile

### Etymology 2

Unadapted borrowing from Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɔ.lon/
* Rhymes: -ɔlon
* Hyphenation: cò‧lon

#### Noun

colon m (plural cola)
* colon (punctuation mark)

### Etymology 3

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish colón.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /koˈlɔn/
* Rhymes: -ɔn
* Hyphenation: co‧lòn

#### Noun

colon m (plural colones)
* Alternative form of colón

### Anagrams

* clono, clonò

## Latin
### Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈko.lon/, [ˈkɔɫ̪ɔn]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈko.lon/, [ˈkɔːlon]

#### Noun

colon n (genitive colī); second declension
* (anatomy) The colon; large intestine
* colic, a disease of the colon

##### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).

##### Descendants

* → Asturian: colon (learned)
* → English: colon
* → French: côlon (learned)
* → German: Kolon
* → Esperanto: kojlo
* → Indonesian: kolon
* → Interlingua: colon
* → Italian: colon (learned)
* → Maltese: kolon
* → Romanian: colon (learned)
* → Spanish: colon (learned)

### Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

#### Alternative forms

* cōlum
* cōlus

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkoː.lon/, [ˈkoːɫ̪ɔn]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈko.lon/, [ˈkɔːlon]

#### Noun

cōlon n (genitive cōlī); second declension
* a member or part of a verse of a poem

##### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).

##### Synonyms

* (member of a verse): membrum

##### Descendants

* → English: colon

### References

* “colon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* colon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “colon”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French côlon.

### Noun

colon m (plural coloni)
* colon

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkolon/ [ˈko.lõn]
* Audio (Colombia):(file)
* Rhymes: -olon
* Syllabification: co‧lon

### Etymology 1

From Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

#### Noun

colon m (plural cólones)
* (grammar) colon (punctuation mark)

### Etymology 2

From Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

#### Noun

colon m (plural cólones)
* (anatomy) colon (part of the large intestine)

##### Derived terms

* colonoscopia, colonoscopía
* colonoscopio
* megacolon
* mesocolon

### Further reading

* “colon”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Welsh
### Pronunciation

* (North Wales) IPA: /ˈkɔlɔn/
* (South Wales) IPA: /ˈkoːlɔn/, /ˈkɔlɔn/

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from English colon from Latin cōlon, from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).

#### Noun

colon m (plural colonau)
* (grammar) colon (punctuation mark)

##### Derived terms

* hanner colon (“semicolon”)

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from English colon from Latin cŏlon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon).

#### Noun

colon m or f
* (anatomy) colon (part of the large intestine)

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

colon f or m (plural colonnau)
* Alternative form of colofn (“column”)

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “colon”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh-English Dictionary, Gwerin
* Delyth Prys, J.P.M. Jones, Owain Davies, Gruffudd Prys (2006) Y Termiadur: termau wedi'u safoni; standardised terminology‎ (in Welsh), Cardiff: Awdurdod cymwysterau, cwricwlwm ac asesu Cymru (Qualifications curriculum & assessment authority for Wales), →ISBN
* R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “colon”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies