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Why is colonel pronounced kernel?

Updated: 10/20/2022
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13y ago

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Colonel comes from Old Italian colonello, commander of a column of troops, which in turn derives from colonna,column. English usage followed Spanish practice (also a French variant) and spelled the word "coronel," pronounced the way it looks. Eventually this was corrupted to ker-nel.

When the written version became "colonel" (reflecting its Latin origin), the "kernel" pronunciation remained.

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13y ago
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Q: Why is colonel pronounced kernel?
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