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• 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.

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Cologne ² American  

[kuh-lohn] / kəˈloʊn /

noun

1. a city in W Germany.

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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)

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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

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Cologne Cultural  

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

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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

“Nobody was cooler than Barry — the hair, the suits, the laugh, the cigar, a cologne that I assume somebody somewhere made just for him,” Van Pelt said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

Brands grasping for attention may also miss a true shift as men go online to learn more about products like cologne than their fathers ever knew, he added.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 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

Curt came into the kitchen, smiling shyly, his hair slightly wet, wearing a fresh, light cologne.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Last year over 350,000 people flocked to the halls of the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany to get a chance to see and play the most hotly anticipated games.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

The findings come from an interdisciplinary group of neuroscientists and clinicians at the University Hospitals of Cologne and Düsseldorf, Harvard Medical School and Charité Berlin.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 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

"Ten years ago we made about six million vehicles a year and we've now stabilised at about four, 4.2 million," transport economist Thomas Puls of the IW economic institute in Cologne told AFP.

From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026

On May 30, 1942, one thousand British planes attacked Cologne, Germany, leaving the Rhineland city in flames.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

The perfumes and colognes are selling for nearly $200.

From Salon ● Dec. 10, 2024

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

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