an army officer of high rank, in particular (in the US Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps) an officer above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general.
The word ' colonel' has been derived from the French ' coronel ' , from Italian ' colonnello ' in the sixteenth century . Since the French were the ruler of England , the people began to pronounce the French word ' Coronel' which sustains r sound.Jul 6, 2012
What is colonel equivalent to?
captain
The name of the rank of colonel literally derives from being “leader of a column” of soldiers. In the U.S. military, a colonel in the army is the equivalent rank of a captain in the navy.