Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Colon |
ColonNoun1. The part of the large intestine between the cecum and the rectum; it extracts moisture from food residues before they are excreted. 2. The basic unit of money in El Salvador; equal to 100 centavos. 3. The basic unit of money in Costa Rica; equal to 100 centimos. 4. A port city at the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. 5. A punctuation mark (:) used after a word introducing a series or an example or an explanation (or after the salutation of a business letter). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "colon" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Colon |
Health | The long, coiled, tubelike organ that removes water from digested food. The remaining material, solid waste called stool, moves through the colon to the rectum and leaves the body through the anus. (references) |
Literature | Colon One of the rabble leaders in Hudibras was Noel Perryan, or Ned Perry, an ostler, who loved bear-baiting, but was a very straight-laced Puritan of low morals. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: ColonSynonyms: Aspinwall (n), Costa Rican colon (n), El Salvadoran colon (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cessation | Dead stop, dead stand, dead lock; finis, cerrado; blowout, burnout, meltdown, disintegration; comma, colon, semicolon, period, full stop; end; death. |
Indication | Keyboard symbols, printing symbols; red letter, italics, sublineation, underlining, bold font; jotting; note, annotation, reference; blaze, cedilla, guillemets, hachure; quotation marks, double quotes,"", parentheses, brackets, braces, curly brackets, arrows, slashes; left parenthesis, "("; right parenthesis, ")"; opening bracket, ""; left curly brace, "{"; right curly brace, "}"; left arrow, ""; right arrow, ""; forward slash, "/"; backward slash, "\"; exclamation point, "!"; commercial at, "@"; pound sign, "#"; percent sign, "%"; carat, "^"; ampersand, "&"; asterisk, ""; hyphen, "-"; dash, "-", "_"; em dash, "--"; plus sign, "+", equals sign, "="; question mark, "?"; period, "."; semicolon, ";", colon, ":"; comma, ","; apostrophe, "'"; single quote, "'"; tilde, "~". |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Congratulations, you have a spastic colon. (Mr. Deeds; writing credit: Clarence Budington Kell; Robert Riskin) Nope, but I can cream your colon quicker than one of them burrito with extra guacamole sauce! (Major Payne; writing credit: Joe Connelly; Bob Mosher) I hope Satan has a nice colon, 'cause that's where you're gonna be living! (Futurama; writing credit: Lance Smith; Carl Colpaert) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Le Colon (1955) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Pictured is a Japanese-American family. There is a mother, father and a pre-school boy. They are seated in an outdoor restaurant and are eating hamburgers and drinking milk. Because Japanese-Americans tend to marry among themselves, factors other than genetic must be examined for cancer incidence. Diet and other lifestyle variations are being studied. Japanese who emigrate to California and change their lifestyles, seem to have an increased incidence of colon cancer. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer). |  | Shown is an ad from the Washington Post November 6, 1985. The ad talks about fats, vegetables, Vitamin A and C, and fiber. It states the fiber or roughage may help prevent colon cancer. It also shows the 1-800-4-CANCER phone number. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |
 | Amebiasis as seen in radiograph of barium-filled colon. Credit: CDC. |  | Incidental autopsy finding of pedunculated polyp in colon. Credit: CDC. |
 | These foods are typical of those eaten by the 12 volunteers during a study of how plant-rich diets affect blood lipids, antioxidant defenses, and colon function. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |  | Colon Hospital, Cristobal, Canal Zone. : View of east end of grounds, showing Nurses Hall and Physicians Quarters. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | Sanitary engineering : Streets after paving for mosquito control in Colon, Panama. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Photographed in U.S. waters, with the river steamer Angler in the background, circa the 1880s or 1890s. This class of small cruisers included the Infanta Isabel (1885-1926), Isabel II (1886-1902), Cristobal Colon (1887-1895), Conde del Venadito (1888-1902), Don Antonio de Ulloa (1887-1898), and Don Juan de Austria (1887-1898). The latter two ships were lost in the Battle of Manila Bay, 1 May 1898, along with the Velasco (1881-1898), a ship of similar design. Credit: NAVY. |
 | At Port Said, Egypt, 26 June - 11 July 1898, while serving with Rear Admiral Manuel de la Camara's squadron. This cruiser was begun as Emperador Carlos V, but her name was shortened prior to completion. Ship at left, with two smokestacks, is a Spanish transport, either Covadonga or Colon. Credit: NAVY. |  | Columbus Monument and the Cristobal Colon Fort, San Juan, Porto Rico. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Eating causes contractions of the colon. (references) | |
Adult worms live in the lumen of the human colon. (references) | ||
IBS is at least partly a disorder of colon motility. (references) | ||
Business | This segment represents good sales opportunities especially in the banking sector, large commercial establishments, the Colon Free Zone and wealthy residential areas. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Panama | In August between 400 and 500 protesters marched through Colon for 2 days to protest unemployment in the city, which has reached 50 percent. (references) |
Honduras | No charges have been filed against Security Minister Gautama Fonseca for a similar detention of COPIN members in 2000. During the year, incidents in which farmers or local populations took over roadways in Colon, Olancho, and Choluteca met with police resistance. (references) | |
Economic History | Costa Rica | Currency: Costa Rica Colon (CRC). (references) |
Human Rights | Panama | Prison conditions in Colon province also are harsh. (references) |
Panama | At year's end, all of the male inmates from the public prison in Colon had been transferred to Nueva Esperanza. (references) | |
Honduras | In February the Peralta Torres family was shot and killed at their home in Colon by unknown assailants, supposedly for opposing a local narcotrafficker. (references) | |
Minorities | Panama | Colon, the country's second largest city, suffers from a conspicuous lack of government services. (references) |
Panama | Their geographic clustering in the economically depressed province of Colon and poorer neighborhoods of Panama City heightens their isolation from mainstream society. (references) | |
Political Economy | EL SALVADOR | Within a period of no more than two years, the dollar is expected to completely replace the colon, which is no longer being printed. (references) |
Trade | Costa Rica | The Costa Rican colon has been freely convertible into foreign currency since 1995. Contracts may be negotiated in any currency. (references) |
Costa Rica | The free convertibility of the colon and the absence of remittance controls facilitates the management of open account relationships in cases where credit risk is deemed minimal. (references) | |
Travel | Ecuador | Other areas identified as dangerous for tourists are El Tejar, Parroquia San Sebastian, Mariscal Sucre, Avenida Cristobal Colon and Gonzalez Suarez. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Colon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.36% of the time. "Colon" is used about 779 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 (singular) | 99.36% | 774 | 8,902 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.64% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Total | 100.00% | 779 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "colon" 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 |
| Colon | Last name | 27,000 | 423 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Colon, MI (village, FIPS 17360) 2. Colon, NC 3. Colon, NE (village, FIPS 10005) 4. Colon , Panama |
Expressions using "colon": Ascending Colon ♦ Atonic Colon ♦ colon cancer ♦ Colon Polyps ♦ Colon sigmoideum ♦ Costa Rican colon ♦ Cristobal Colon ♦ Descending Colon ♦ El Salvadoran colon ♦ hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer ♦ Sigmoid Colon ♦ Spastic Colon ♦ Transverse Colon. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "colon": colon-cancer, colon-ialism, colon-ripping. | |
Ending with "colon": anti-colon, semi-colon, system-colon. | |
| 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. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
colon cancer | 3,524 | colon teatro | 68 |
colon | 1,308 | cancer de colon | 66 |
colon cancer symptom | 961 | colon therapy | 59 |
colon cleansing | 860 | colon panama | 48 |
colon cleanse | 435 | colon irrigation | 48 |
spastic colon | 406 | colon resection | 45 |
colon cleanser | 398 | colon clean | 45 |
colon polyps | 263 | colon blow | 45 |
cristobal colon | 205 | semi colon | 45 |
colon hydrotherapy | 204 | colon michigan | 44 |
colon cleaning | 156 | colon polyp | 44 |
health colon | 151 | zona libre de colon | 43 |
colon disease | 146 | colon cleaner | 41 |
colon problem | 142 | colon cancer sign and symptom | 41 |
colon cancer treatment | 132 | colon cancer picture | 41 |
sign of colon cancer | 119 | sigmoid colon | 38 |
colon test | 103 | bartolo colon | 38 |
irritable colon | 98 | herbal colon cleansing | 37 |
colon surgery | 91 | colon infection | 36 |
willie colon | 81 | colon tumor | 36 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "colon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | zorrë e trashë (large intestine, rectum), kolon francez, dy pika. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | نقطتان, الكولون وحدة النقد في كوستاريكا, الجزء الاسفل من المعي الغليظ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | част от дебелото черво, колон, двоеточие. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | '号. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | tlusté střevo, dvojteèka. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | colon (large intestine), tyktarm (chitterlings, large intestine), kolon, forfatters rettigheder, forfatterrettigheder (royalty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | dubbele punt. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | dupunkto. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | معاء غلاظ (Ileum), قولون (Appendix), ستون روده , روده بزرگ , دونقطه یعنی این علامت . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | kaksoispiste. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | côlon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | doppelpunkt. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | άνω κάτω τελεία, διπλή στιγμή. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מעי 'ס, קו"תים. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | vastagbél (large intestine), kettõspont. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | usus besar (bowels), titik dua. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | due punti, colon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 重点 (emphasis, important point, lay stress on), 結腸 , 大腸 , コロナ"電 (colonial, colony, Colorado, Colorado Springs, coloratura, Columbia, corona discharge, turd). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | コロン , けっちょう, じゅうて" (emphasis, fill, filling, important point, lay stress on, loading, plug, replenish), いちょう (account book, ledger, register). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 결장. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | scoltan (slot). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | tykktarm. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | oloncay dois pontos, cólon. (various references) colon, douã puncte. (various references) двоеточие. (various references) dvotačka, dve tačke, debelo crevo. (various references) dos puntos. (various references) kolon, grovtarm. (various references) น้ำหอม (fragrance, odour colon, scent). (various references) kolon (column, post), kalın bağırsağın kolon bölümü, iki nokta üstüste. (various references) товста кишка, двокрапка. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | colo, colorum, multicoloria. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "colon": colone, colonel, colonelcies, colonelcy, colonels, colones, coloni, colonial, colonialism, colonialisms, colonialist, colonialistic, colonialists, colonialize, colonialized, colonializes, colonializing, colonially, colonialness, colonialnesses, colonials, colonic, colonics, colonies, colonisation, colonisations, colonise, colonised, colonises, colonising, colonist, colonists, colonization, colonizationist, colonizationists, colonizations, colonize, colonized, colonizer, colonizers, colonizes, colonizing, colonnade, colonnaded, colonnades, colons, colonus, colony. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "colon": semicolon. (additional references) | |
Words containing "colon": anticolonial, anticolonialism, anticolonialisms, anticolonialist, anticolonialists, anticolonials, decolonization, decolonizations, decolonize, decolonized, decolonizes, decolonizing, intercolonial, neocolonial, neocolonialism, neocolonialisms, neocolonialist, neocolonialists, postcolonial, precolonial, recolonization, recolonizations, recolonize, recolonized, recolonizes, recolonizing, semicolonial, semicolonialism, semicolonialisms, semicolonies, semicolons, semicolony, subcolonies, subcolony. (additional references) | |
| |
"Colon" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: calen, calgon, Calmon, calon, calona, Caolan, celcon, Celyn, Cholbon, cholo, cilo, cloin, clon, clonb, Clono, cloo, Cloob, codon, Coelho, colen, Colijn, Collan, Collenn, collomn, Collon, collone, Collwn, colmon, coln, colnol, coloe, cologn, colom, colomn, colonc, colone, coloni, colono, colonum, Colorno, colou, Colpoy, Colron, Colyn, conon, Cooxon, Coplon, coron, Cosloy, coton, Coulon, Coxon, Cualann, culin, Cullom, culn, culo, cylon, Ecolo, Holon, klon, Koldon, Kolen, kolon, Kolone, Kolonji, Kolov, kunlun, Mcloon, Oclo, sceolon. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "colon" (pronounced kō"lun) |
| 4 | -ō" l u n | solan, Solon, stolen, swollen, Tolan. |
| 3 | -l u n | adrenaline, Alan, Ballon, befallen, Billon, bouillon, Callan, Chamberlain, chaplain, crestfallen, discipline, elan, fallen, felon, gallon, globulin, gremlin, insulin, javelin, kaolin, Kremlin, lanolin, Magdalen, Marlin, masculine, melon, Mullen, muskmelon, muslin, pelon, penicillin, pentathlon, phenolphthalein, pollen, porcelain, stollen, sullen, talon, triathlon, vanillin, villain, watermelon, woolen, woollen, Zeppelin. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-l-n-o-o" | |
-1 letter: clon, cool, coon, loco, loon, nolo. | |
-2 letters: col, con, coo, loo, noo. | |
-3 letters: lo, no, on. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-l-n-o-o" | |
+1 letter: colone, coloni, colons, colony, consol, uncool. | |
+2 letters: cologne, colonel, colones, colonic, colonus, condole, console, consols, control, coolant, cooling, coronal, coronel, locoing, monocle, noncola, octanol, orcinol, volcano. | |
+3 letters: canoodle, cologned, colognes, colonels, colonial, colonics, colonies, colonise, colonist, colonize, colophon, colorant, coloring, colorman, colormen, commonly, condoled, condoler, condoles, confocal, conglobe, conoidal, consoled, consoler, consoles, controls, convolve, cooingly, coolants, cooldown, coolness, coronals, coronels, cotillon, eclosion, ecotonal, golconda, location, lockdown, locution, monocled, monocles, mooncalf, neologic, noncolor, nonfocal, nonlocal, nonvocal, octanols, oncology, oolachan, orcinols, stolonic, uncooled, unicolor, volcanos. | |
| 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: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Cities 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
