Added 9 October 2026
colony
/ˈkɒl.ə.ni/ noun
In Latin: colōnia Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about colony at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
A body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government.
the American colony in Paris
- A group of organisms of the same type living or growing together.
- One of the 13 British colonies that formed the original states of the United States.
Origin
From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)