coup

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kuː/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French coup (“a blow”), earlier colp,^[2][3] from Late Latin colpus,^[2][3] from Latin colaphus, a blow with the fist, a box on the ear,^[2][3][4] from Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos, “a blow, slap”), which Beekes calls a lowly word without clear etymology.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A blow or stroke: about 1400, now obsolete in this sense.^[3][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The modern word was taken from French again in the 18th century, as a clever, successful stroke or masterstroke.^[6][4] The sense of a sudden overthrow of government is from 1852, a shortening of coup d'état.^[2][3] Among some Native American peoples, counting coup was touching an enemy in battle as a feat of bravery.^[7] Etymonline notes that in Modern French the word is a workhorse, used of everything from a pat on the back to thunder and chess moves.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – a blow.^[3][5]
• 18th century – a masterstroke.^[6][4]
• 1852 – a coup d'état.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A brilliant and successful move; a masterstroke.
2. Short for coup d'état, a sudden seizure of government.
3. Among some Native American peoples, a feat of bravery such as touching an enemy in battle.

Word family

• countercoup
• postcoup
• precoup

Related words

• coup d'oeil
• coup de foudre
• coup de main
• cope
• coupe
• coup d'état
• coup de grâce

Usage notes

The Scots coup /kaʊp/, to upset or overturn, and coup, a rubbish tip, belong to a different word.^[5][8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster