Cologne Meaning
/kəˈloʊn/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA type of perfume consisting of 2–5% essential oils, 70–90% alcohol and water.
nameThe largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the Rhine River.
Sentence Examples
Cologne lies on the Rhine.
I'm going to Mainz and then to Cologne next year.
Cologne Cathedral is the largest gothic cathedral of the Germanic countries.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He splashed on some ____ before his date to smell fresh and pleasant.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He wore a very expensive ____ that smelled deeply of wood and spices.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 2025 June 4, Alex Croft, “Around 20,000 evacuated in Cologne as major bomb defusal operation underway”, in The Independent, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2025, retrieved 20 Feb 2026:
"The perfume market has always been a two-tiered one, with a relatively small number of buyers of small bottles of real perfume and eau de parfum that cost large amounts of money, and a larger number of buyers of somewhat larger bottles of cologne and eau de toilette that are considerably more affordable but not always cheap."
— 1987 October, Timothy Kalich, “Marketing: What's in a Smell?”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN:
"He wore some aftershave or cologne that gave him a heavy, nasty, sweet scent."
— 1998, Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents, HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP (2019), page 95:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He splashed on some ____ before his date to smell fresh and pleasant.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He wore a very expensive ____ that smelled deeply of wood and spices.