Word.ws English Dictionary

Kentucky Colonel

/kənˈtʌki/

Kentucky Colonel noun: the greatest title of authority and honor bestown by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, recognizing noteworthy accomplishments, actions, deeds and service to a community, state or a nation.

Noun (1)

Kentucky Colonel (plural Kentucky Colonels)

  1. The greatest title of authority and honor bestown by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, recognizing noteworthy accomplishments, actions, deeds and service to a community, state or a nation.
  2. A natural person who has been recognized with the style of Honorable by the Governor of Kentucky and is granted a Kentucky Colonel Commission.
  3. A person holding the honorable title of colonel who lived in or migrated to Kentucky as the result of a land bounty deed.
    • The scene is laid at New York, in the house of Mr. Freeman, a New York merchant, who is uncle to the Kentucky Colonel.April 20, 1833, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The National Gazette (page 1)
    • President George H. W. Bush was a Kentucky Colonel.2019, Albert W. A. Schmid, How to Drink Like a Spy, page 81

Noun (2) capitalized: Kentucky colonel

Kentucky colonel (plural Kentucky colonels)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Kentucky Colonel.

Forms of Kentucky Colonel

pluralKentucky Colonels
alternative formCol.
alternative formColonel
alternative formKentucky colonel
pluralKentucky colonels

Origin of Kentucky Colonel

Origin unconfirmed from 1775. As a compound word that was merged from two lexemes the title is a demonym and exonym label that emerged in the early 19th century to refer to the old colonial leaders of Kentucky. In 1896, the state adopted the term as an official referencial title and commission for civilian officers with access to the governor. Kentucky derives from an Iroquoian word meaning "prairie"; compare Mohawk kenhtà:ke (“the meadow”), Seneca gëdá'geh (“at the field”), combined with the title Colonel which meant "head of colony, company or county" as it was originated from the place representative of its territorial leaders and founders as of 1775-1792.

Words that rhyme with Kentucky Colonel

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Kentucky Colonel

What does Kentucky Colonel mean?
Kentucky Colonel means the greatest title of authority and honor bestown by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, recognizing noteworthy accomplishments, actions, deeds and service to a community, state or a nation.
What part of speech is Kentucky Colonel?
Kentucky Colonel is a noun.
How do you pronounce Kentucky Colonel?
Kentucky Colonel is pronounced /kənˈtʌki/.
What is the plural of Kentucky Colonel?
The plural of Kentucky Colonel is Kentucky Colonels.

Words near Kentucky Colonel in the dictionary

  1. Kentucky coffee trees
  2. Kentucky coffee-tree
  3. Kentucky coffee-trees
  4. Kentucky coffeetree
  5. Kentucky coffeetrees
  6. Kentucky Colonel
  7. Kentucky colonels
  8. Kentucky lady's slipper
  9. Kentucky lady's slippers
  10. Kentucky rifle
  11. Kentucky rifles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Kentucky Colonel (page history and authors); Kentucky colonel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-Kentucky.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Kentucky Colonel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kentucky_colonel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.