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Added 8 October 2026

coup

/kuː/ noun

Latin root: colpus Wiktionary

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

A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.
Of Native Americans, a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that demonstrates bravery.
A coup d'état.

verb

To execute a coup.
To subject (a nation) to a coup d'état.
To empty out, overturn, or tilt, such as from a cart or wheelbarrow.

verb

To exchange, barter.

Origin

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).

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

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