couple

A2 Topic:Numbers & Quantity

US /ˈkʌp.əl/ See IPA manual

noun verb Freq #492

Meanings

1

noun
A small number; two or a few.

I'll be back in a couple of days.
2

noun
Two people in a romantic relationship or who live together.

A young married couple from Chicago moved in next door.
3

verb
To join or link two things together.

The report couples low pay with poor working conditions.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a small number; two or a few. few handful

2 noun · two people in a romantic... twosome

3 verb · to join or link two things... couple up

More attach copulate duo espouse join marry pair

Word family

Forms couplescoupling

Derived forms accouplecouplacouplablecouple-beggarcouple-closecouple-ishcouple-threecoupledomcouplehoodcoupleycouplezillacoupling

Common collocations

Etymology

From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.

couple Middle English cōpula Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Numbers & Quantity

# couple

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** ˈkʌp.əl
**Frequency rank:** 492

## Meanings
1. A small number; two or a few.
2. Two people in a romantic relationship or who live together.
3. To join or link two things together.

## Examples
- I'll be back in a couple of days.
- A young married couple from Chicago moved in next door.
- The report couples low pay with poor working conditions.

## Synonyms
- attach
- copulate
- duo
- espouse
- join
- marry
- pair

## Derived Forms
- accouple
- coupla
- couplable
- couple-beggar
- couple-close
- couple-ish
- couple-three
- coupledom
- couplehood
- coupley
- couplezilla
- coupling

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: couple
- Root: cōpula

## Etymology
From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.

## AI Etymology
couple comes from Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula. The historical chain includes Middle English couple, Old French couple, Latin cōpula. Current senses include A small number; two or a few and Two people in a romantic relationship or who live together. English relatives and later formations include accouple, coupla, couplable.

## Topics
- Numbers & Quantity

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