coup

C1 Topic:Verbs of Movement

US /ku/ UK /kuː/ See IPA manual

noun verb Freq #8559

Meanings

1

noun
A sudden, often violent seizure of government power by a small group.

The army staged a coup and overthrew the elected president overnight.
2

noun
A clever, impressive, and unexpectedly successful achievement.

Signing the world's best player was a major coup for the small club.
3

noun
A sudden move by one group to take control from another.

Several ministers were accused of plotting a coup against the prime minister.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a sudden, often violent... putsch

2 noun · a clever, impressive, and... triumph

Word family

Forms coups

Derived forms anticoupcountercoupcoupismcoupistcoupmakingcoupstickpostcoupprecoupself-coup

Related forms autocoupautogolpe

Etymology

Reborrowed in modern times from modern French coup (“blow, strike”), from Old French coup, colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of cope and colpus. The same Old French word had been borrowed into Middle English as coupe, caupe (with different pronunciation).

*kelh₂- Proto-Indo-European coup French colpus la-lat colaphus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Verbs of Movement

# coup

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** ku
**IPA (UK):** kuː
**Frequency rank:** 8559

## Meanings
1. A sudden, often violent seizure of government power by a small group.
2. A clever, impressive, and unexpectedly successful achievement.
3. A sudden move by one group to take control from another.

## Examples
- The army staged a coup and overthrew the elected president overnight.
- Signing the world's best player was a major coup for the small club.
- Several ministers were accused of plotting a coup against the prime minister.

## Derived Forms
- anticoup
- countercoup
- coupism
- coupist
- coupmaking
- coupstick
- postcoup
- precoup
- self-coup

## Related Forms
- autocoup
- autogolpe

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kelh₂-
- Root: coup
- Root: colpus
- Root: colaphus

## Etymology
Reborrowed in modern times from modern French coup (“blow, strike”), from Old French coup, colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of cope and colpus. The same Old French word had been borrowed into Middle English as coupe, caupe (with different pronunciation).

## AI Etymology
Coup was reborrowed in modern times from modern French coup (“blow, strike”), from Old French coup, colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of cope and colpus. The same Old French word had been borrowed into Middle English as coupe, caupe (with different pronunciation). The historical chain includes *kelh₂- (Proto-Indo-European), coup (French), coup (Old French), colpus (Late Latin), and colaphus (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as anticoup, countercoup, coupism, and coupist and related forms such as autocoup and autogolpe. In present use it covers a sudden, often violent seizure of government power by a small group, a clever, impressive, and unexpectedly successful achievement, and a sudden move by one group to take control from another.

## Topics
- Verbs of Movement

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coup

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