Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Colombo |
ColomboNoun1. The capital and largest city of Sri Lanka; one of the largest harbors in the world; located on the western coast of the island. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Colombo" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1869. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Geography | Capital of Sri Lanka. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Colombo (derived from Sinhalese name Kola-amba-thota which means Mangoe harbor), estimated population 750,000 (1995), is the capital of Sri Lanka. Gem cutting is a regional speciality. Other industries include chemicals, textiles, glass, cement, leather goods, furniture, and jewelry. An oil refinery is located near the city.Colombo was probably known to Roman, Arab, and Chinese traders more than 2,000 years ago. Muslims settled there in the 8th century and controlled much of the trade between Sinhalese kingdoms and the outside world. The Portuguese arrived in the 16th century and built a fort to protect their spice trade. The Dutch captured the city in the 17th century. The British made the city the capital of their crown colony of Ceylon in 1802.
The University of Sri Lanka, several colleges, an observatory, a national museum, and numerous churches, mosques, and Buddhist and Hindu temples are in Colombo; on the outskirts are two Buddhist universities. The city has some of the best modern infrastructure in South Asia including the biggest port of the subcontinent.
On January 31, 1996 an explosives-filled truck of the LTTE ramed into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Colombo."
Synonym: ColomboSynonym: capital of Sri Lanka (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Colombo |
| Non-English Usage: "Colombo" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Italian (columbus, dove, pigeon), Portuguese (calumba, colombia, Colombo, columbus). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Cristóvão Colombo (1957) Sterne über Colombo (1954) Felicità Colombo (1937) Cristoforo Colombo (1937) One Colombo Night (1926) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Dr. Robert Dietz of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discussing scientifi c findings of the International Indian Ocean Expedition on board the USC&GS Ship PIONEER at Colombo, Ceylon. Dr. Dietz coined the term "sea-floor spreading" a few years earlier to describe the process of seafloor accretion at active oceanic ridges. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | Dr. Harris B. Stewart, Chief Oceanographer of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and chief scientist aboard the USC&GS Ship PIONEER during the International Indian Ocean Expedition, discussing depth sounding instruments with the press aboard the Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship PIONEER at Colombo, Ceylon. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | Dr. Francis P. Shepard, the "father of marine geology," discussing scientific findings of the International Indian Ocean Expedition on board the Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship PIONEER at a press conference in Colombo, Ceylon. Looking on were Dr. Robert Dietz, an early pioneer in plate tectonic theory, and Dr. Harris B. Stewart, Chief Oceanographer of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | 45--Curitiba--Brazil--Panorama--Faculdade de Medicina Foto Postal Colombo. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | 27--Sao Paulo--Brasil--Faculdade de Medicina Foto Postal Colombo. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Cristoforo Colombo. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Kandy - Colombo Street. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | A bungalow by the lake - Colombo. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Colombo - clock tower and street scene. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Hindu Temple in Colombo (Sri L" by Ronald Fruin Commentary: "A very colourfull temple in Colombo. Great contrast with grey skies." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | Sri Lanka | Minor protests by Muslims continued until May 4, when there was a large-scale protest in Colombo. (references) |
Sri Lanka | While the Government had a legitimate interest in identifying LTTE infiltrators, it also appeared reluctant to allow displaced Tamils to travel to Colombo where they might contribute to unemployment and other social problems. (references) | |
Switzerland | Government representatives claimed that they carried out an ongoing review of the situation in Sri Lanka and that refugees would be repatriated to Colombo, but mandated that no returns would take place in the eastern and northern parts of the country, where conflicts persisted. (references) | |
Economic History | Sri Lanka | It has three commercial ports, the largest being the port of Colombo. (references) |
Sri Lanka | Prospects for an early revival of the Colombo Stock market remain dim. (references) | |
Sri Lanka | This law applies only to companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. (references) | |
Human Rights | Sri Lanka | There were also reports of disappearance in Colombo and Jaffna. (references) |
Sri Lanka | Trials and hearings in the north and east are in Tamil and English, but many serious cases, including those having to do with terrorism, are tried in Colombo. (references) | |
Sri Lanka | During the week following the July 24 attack on Colombo's main airbase and international airport, security forces detained hundreds of Tamils in the Colombo region for questioning. (references) | |
Political Economy | Sri Lanka | In July, the LTTE attacked the airport north of Colombo. (references) |
Sri Lanka | Serious restrictions remained on freedom of movement, especially from Vavuniya to Colombo and the southern part of the country generally. (references) | |
Sri Lanka | For expatriate business persons working in Colombo and elsewhere, the primary security concern is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. (references) | |
Trade | Sri Lanka | The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) operates a bonded warehouse at the port of Colombo for transit shipments. (references) |
Sri Lanka | Three new mini Export Processing Zones were opened in 1997-1999. They are located North-East of Colombo in Mirigama, Malwatte and Wathupitiwala. (references) | |
Sri Lanka | They are located in Pallekelle, near Kandy in Central Sri Lanka, in Seethawaka in Avissawela about 60 kilometers from Colombo and in Hambantota in the deep south. (references) | |
Travel | Sri Lanka | Several well-stocked supermarkets are located in Colombo. (references) |
Sri Lanka | Colombo is served by a fairly modern international airport. (references) | |
Sri Lanka | Radio-operated metered taxi cabs and motorized trishaws are freely available in the Colombo area. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Colombo" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Colombo" is used about 158 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 100% | 158 | 24,965 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "Colombo" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Colombo | Last name | 1,000 | 7,690 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expression using "Colombo": Cristoforo Colombo. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Colombo": colombo-bound, Colombo-to-kandy. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Colombo"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Danish | Colombo. (various references) | |
Dutch | Colombo (calumba). (various references) | |
Finnish | Colombo. (various references) | |
French | Colombo. (various references) | |
German | Colombo (calumba). (various references) | |
Greek | Κολόμπο. (various references) | |
Italian | Colombo (columbus, dove, pigeon). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | olombocay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | Colombo (colombia, columbus). (various references) | |
Spanish | Colombo. (various references) | |
Swedish | Colombo. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Colombo" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Callimba, Colcombe, Collobm, coloboma, Colomba, Colombes, Coromba, Culemborg, Golomb, Molomo. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-l-m-o-o-o" | |
-2 letters: bloom, clomb, combo, coomb. | |
-3 letters: bloc, bolo, boom, comb, cool, lobo, loco, loom, mool, obol. | |
-4 letters: boo, cob, col, coo, lob, loo, mob, moc, mol, moo. | |
-5 letters: bo, lo, mo, om. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-l-m-o-o-o" | |
+1 letter: coloboma. | |
+3 letters: colobomata. | |
+5 letters: collembolous, microbiology. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
