Colombian

How to spell colombian

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce colombian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does colombian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Colombia, the country in South America, or its people and culture.
2. nounA person who is a native or citizen of Colombia.

Colombian in a sentence

• adjective

  The colombian coffee growers near Medellín exported a record harvest this year.

• noun

  As a proud colombian, he flew his national flag outside his home each year.

• adjective

  She wrote her thesis on colombian history and the long road to independence from Spain.

• noun

  The colombian living in Cali invited her relatives from abroad to visit the family.

Where does colombian come from?

Language of origin: Spanish

This word is built on Colombia, the name of the South American republic, with the English suffix -ian meaning 'belonging to' or 'a native of'. The country name was coined in honour of the explorer Christopher Columbus, whose name in Spanish was Colón and in Italian Colombo, all going back to the Latin Columbus, which literally meant 'dove' (from columba, the Latin word for that bird). The Latinised, Spanish-flavoured form Colombia, with two o sounds, was popularised by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda in the early nineteenth century and adopted when the nation took shape. This is exactly why the spelling trap matters: the country and its people are 'Colombia' and 'Colombian' with an o in the middle, even though the closely related English words 'Columbus', 'Columbia', and 'British Columbia' all use a u. Writers who picture Columbus often slip the u back in, but the demonym for the country keeps its o throughout.

How the word is built

• Colomb- (from Colombia, the country named for Columbus)
• -ian (adjective/noun suffix meaning 'belonging to')