different between colonel vs sergeant

English

Alternative forms

• coronel (obsolete)
• COL., Col. (abbreviation)

Etymology

First attested 1548, 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 compagna 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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k??n?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?n?l/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n?l
• Homophone: kernel

The anomalous pronunciation is probably a holdover of the pronunciation of the earlier, obsolete form coronel.

Noun

colonel (plural colonels)

1. 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).

   • The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone.

Usage notes

• When used as a title, it is always capitalized.

Related terms

• bird colonel
• colonel-general
• lieutenant-colonel
• royal colonel

Translations

Verb

colonel (third-person singular simple present colonels, present participle coloneling or colonelling, simple past and past participle coloneled or colonelled)

1. (intransitive) To act as or like a colonel.

French

Alternative forms

• colonnel, coronel, coronnel (obsolete)

Etymology

From Italian colonnello. Compare Middle French coronel, borrowed earlier from the same source. See English colonel for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.l?.n?l/

Noun

colonel m (plural colonels, feminine colonelle)

1. A colonel, highest commissioned officer below generals.
2. An ice cream dessert consisting of lemon sherbet and vodka.

Related terms

• colonel-général
• lieutenant-colonel

Further reading

• “colonel” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Romanian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French colonel, from Middle French coronel, which see.

Noun

colonel m (plural colonei)

1. A colonel (military officer above lieutenant-colonel and below all generals)

Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Kolonel.

Noun

colonel n (uncountable)

1. A glyph (A letter in a type of font.)

English

Alternative forms

• serjant (obsolete)
• sergeaunt (obsolete)
• serjeant (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviens (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin servi?ns (“serving”), present participle of servi? (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient.

The fish is so called because of its stripes, supposed to resemble a sergeant's insignia of rank.

For the "er" being pronounced /??/, see also clerk, derby, varsity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s??.d??nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s??.d??nt/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d??nt

Noun

sergeant (plural sergeants)

1. (military) UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.
2. The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.
3. (law, historical) A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.
4. (Britain, historical) A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.

5. A fish, the cobia.
6. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the of the genus Athyma; distinguished from the false sergeants.
7. A bailiff.
8. A servant in monastic offices.

Related terms

• sergeant baker
• sarge

Translations

Anagrams

• angerest, enragest, estrange, grantees, greatens, negaters, reagents, rentages, reägents, seargent, segreant, sternage

Dutch

Alternative forms

• sergant (obsolete)
• sergent (obsolete)
• serjant (obsolete)
• sersjant (archaic, informal)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch seriant, from Old French sergent, from Latin servi?ns. The current spelling is influenced by English sergeant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?r???nt/
• Hyphenation: ser?geant
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

sergeant m (plural sergeants or sergeanten, diminutive sergeantje n)

1. sergeant (non-commissioned officer in several armed forces)

Usage notes

This rank is in use in the Dutch army, navy and air force, in the Belgian army and air force and in the Surinamese army.

Derived terms

• sergeant-majoor

Descendants

• Afrikaans: sersant
• ? Indonesian: sersan
• ? West Frisian: sersjant

See also

• meester
• wachtmeester