colony

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A country or area controlled by another, more powerful country.

   Much of the region was once a British colony.

2. 2
   noun

   A group of animals or plants of the same kind living together.

   The scientists studied a colony of ants.

3. 3
   noun

   A group of people with the same background or interests living in one area.

   There is a large colony of British expats in Spain.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Colony was borrowed in the late Middle Ages directly from Latin colonia, meaning a farm or settlement, especially a settlement of veteran Roman soldiers. Colonia was based on Latin colere, meaning to cultivate or inhabit. Colonize followed in the early 16th century, colonial in the late 18th, and colonialism in the mid-19th.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- Proto-Indo-European *kʷélh₁-e-ti Proto-Italic *kʷelō Latin colō Latin colōnus Latin colōniader. Middle English colane English colony From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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