Cologne

• Collen, Cologn (obsolete)
• Köln (rare)

From Middle English Coloyne, from Old French Cologne, from Latin Colōnia Agrippīna (“Agrippine Colony”), a settlement named after Agrippina, the mother of Roman Emperor Nero; colōnia (“colony”) comes from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from verb colo, colere (“till, cultivate, worship”). Doublet of Colonia, colony, and Köln, from German.

• IPA^(key): /kəˈloʊn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -oʊn
• (Early Modern) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊlɛn/^[1], /ˈkʊlɪn/

Cologne

1. The largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the Rhine River.
   • 2025 June 4, Alex Croft, “Around 20,000 evacuated in Cologne as major bomb defusal operation underway”, in The Independent‎^[2], archived from the original on 26 July 2025, retrieved 20 February 2026:

     Roads on either side of the river Rhine will be closed as authorities seal off the large evacuation zone. The Unesco World Heritage Cologne Cathedral sits just outside the area.

2. A city and town in Minnesota, United States.

• Cologner

• El Congo

Inherited from Old French Cologne, Coloigne, from Latin colōnia (“colony”) in Colōnia Agrippīna (“Agrippine Colony”), a settlement named after Agrippina, the mother of Roman Emperor Nero.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.lɔɲ/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Cologne f

1. Cologne (the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in northwestern Germany)

• eau de Cologne