couple

A2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈkʌp.əl/ See IPA manual

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.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

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

Appears in

Phrases (7)

See all

a happy couple
two people in a relationship who appear content and well-matched

Adjective + noun
a married couple
two people who are legally joined in marriage

Adjective + noun
a young couple
two people who are romantically involved and are both relatively young

Adjective + noun
make a couple
to form a naturally matching or well-suited romantic pair

Verb + noun
an elderly couple
two older people who are in a long-term relationship

Adjective + noun
engaged couple
two people who have agreed to marry each other

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

It takes two to make a couple

Simplified etymology

Couple came into Middle English through Old French from Latin copulare, “to join,” formed from co- “together” and apere “fasten.” Its senses developed around the idea of two things joined together.

Etymology

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

couple Middle English cōpula Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# 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
- General Vocabulary

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