Jump To:

• cologne
  cologne

  noun

  a mildly perfumed toilet water; eau de Cologne.
• Cologne
  Cologne

  noun

  a city in W Germany.

cologne

¹ American  

[kuh-lohn] / kəˈloʊn /

noun

• colognes
  plural

1. a mildly perfumed toilet water; eau de Cologne.

---

Cologne ² American  

[kuh-lohn] / kəˈloʊn /

noun

1. a city in W Germany.

---

Cologne ¹ British  

/ kəˈləʊn /

noun

1. German name: Köln.  an industrial city and river port in W Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia on the Rhine: important commercially since ancient times; university (1388). Pop: 965 954 (2003 est)

---

cologne ² British  

/ kəˈləʊn /

noun

1. Also called: Cologne water.   eau de Cologne.  a perfumed liquid or solid made of fragrant essential oils and alcohol

---

Cologne Cultural  

1. City in western Germany on the Rhine River; a commercial center.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cologned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• colognes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cologne

Short for Cologne water, made in Cologne since 1709

Explanation

Cologne is a type of perfume, a liquid that smells good and is meant to be dabbed behind your ears. When you get dressed up for a night on the town, you might be sure to put some cologne on your neck. Both men and women wear cologne, which is scented with extracts or oils in a base of alcohol and water. Cologne is considered a kind of toilet water, which is less concentrated than perfume — and can be applied more liberally. If you've ever stood in an elevator with a man wearing an excessive amount of cologne, you know there can be too much of a good thing. The word is from the French eau de Cologne, "water from Cologne (Germany)."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cologne Cologne colognes

Mallory Dodge, a stay-at-home mom in Georgia, was flooded with pungent memories of Axe when considering which starter cologne to buy her teenage son last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026

He sprayed Sharaa with Trump-branded cologne, before presenting him with his own supply to take home for his wife, jokingly asking him how many he has.

From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025

My 13-year-old has a medicine cabinet full of cologne and was way more excited about our new Harry’s fragrances than any other product we’ve made.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025

The thing about guys trying to be like Charlie Sheen is they wear borrowed danger like drugstore cologne.

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2025

Jordan’s cologne, which smelled to Gerald like horse sweat, hung strong and overpowering in the small room.

From "Forged by Fire" by Sharon M. Draper

There would still be shipping on the river in the Netherlands and in Germany up to around Cologne, and further south on several tributaries, he said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

Record-low levels were already measured at other Rhine gauges in North Rhine-Westphalia, such as in Cologne and Duisburg-Ruhrort, over the weekend.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Conlon was itching to return home after having spent two decades in Europe, where he had headed the Rotterdam Symphony as well as the Cologne Opera and the German city’s Gürzenich Orchestra.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

In 2015 the German newspaper Kicker reported that Cologne - where Eckert was working as a youth coach - had sent an analyst to spy on Hamburg during a warm-weather training camp in Dubai.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

And now I will never even see Germany, unless they send me to Ravensbruck—I will never see Berlin, or Cologne, or Dresden—or the Black Forest, the Rhine Valley, the blue Danube.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

That’s probably because Calone is employed as an ingredient in a vast array of colognes and perfumes, including scents by Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Christian Dior.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2021

"When I started advertising, all of a sudden it became one of the best colognes out there. I was doing appearances; 15,000, 18,000, 20,000 people were showing up outside of Saks Fifth Avenue."

From Fox News ● Aug. 20, 2021

The film is brimming with clever, authentic-sounding radio advertisements for perfumes, colognes and tanning products.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2019

Mr. Fernandéz looked in a mirror, lined with boxes of Bulgari and Fendi colognes, and reached over the fence of Mr. Esteves’s hair to pluck up wilted locks within.

From New York Times ● Aug. 14, 2015

He goes shopping with her on Madison Avenue at stores they must be buzzed into, for cashmere cardigans and outrageously expensive English colognes that Maxine buys without deliberation or guilt.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri