Colonial

How to spell colonial

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce colonial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does colonial mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to a colony or to the period when a country was ruled by a foreign power.

Colonial in a sentence

• The museum displayed furniture from the colonial era.

• Many old town squares still reflect colonial architecture.

Where does colonial come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin colonia, which meant a settlement or farm established by colonists in conquered or unsettled territory; that noun grew from colonus, a tiller of the soil or settler, which in turn came from the verb colere, meaning 'to cultivate, till, or inhabit'. The same colere root quietly lives on in words like 'culture' and 'agriculture', all sharing the idea of working the land. English took 'colony' from this Latin source by way of Old French in the late medieval period, and the adjective 'colonial' was formed later, becoming common in the 1700s as European powers expanded their overseas territories. The single 'l' followed by 'on' and then the '-ial' ending is the usual spelling trap: writers sometimes want to double the 'l' or drop the second 'i'. Remembering the root colon (as in colony) keeps the middle steady and the ending intact.

How the word is built

• colon- (from Latin colonia: settlement, farm)
• -ial (adjective suffix: relating to)