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Added 9 October 2026

coop

/kuːp/ noun

In Latin: hara Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about coop at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A basket, pen or enclosure for birds or small animals.
A wickerwork basket (kipe) or other enclosure for catching fish.
A narrow place of confinement, a cage; a jail, a prison.

verb

To keep in a coop.
To shut up or confine in a narrow space; to cramp.
To unlawfully confine one or more voters to prevent them from casting their ballots in an election.

noun

A cart with sides and ends made from boards, enabling it to carry manure, etc.
A cart which opens at the back to release its load; a tumbril.

noun

A small heap.

Origin

From Middle English cǒupe, cupe, from Old English cȳpe (“basket, cask”) or possibly from Middle Dutch cûpe (compare modern Dutch kuip, Saterland Frisian kupe, Middle Low German kûpe), from Old Saxon *kûpa, côpa (“cask”) (compare Middle Low German kôpe, Old High German chôfa, chuofa, Middle High German kuofe, modern regional German Kufe f (“cask”)), probably from Latin cūpa, Medieval Latin cōpa (“cask”) (thus a doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that if the word is from Latin, “it is difficult to account for the umlaut in Old English cýpe”.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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