couple

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkʌp.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English couple, borrowed from Old French cople (“married couple, lovers”) (modern couple),^[2][3][4] from Latin cōpula (“tie, connection, bond”),^[3][2][5] from *co-apula, formed from co- (“together”) and the base of apere (“to fasten”).^[2][6][7] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ko-ap-, from *ap- (“to take, reach”).^[3] The verb is from Old French copler (“to join together”), from Latin cōpulāre.^[3][4] It is a doublet of copula, and related to copulate and couplet.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man and woman united by love or marriage: before 1300^[10] or about 1280.^[2] The verb, “to link, connect”, is from about 1200.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Two things of the same kind considered together is from 1338,^[2] or the mid-14th century.^[3] A leash for two hounds is from about 1340,^[10] and the verb “to tie dogs together in pairs” from the same time.^[10] “To unite in marriage” is from the mid-14th century, and “to copulate” from about 1400.^[3] A couple of, “a few”, is a later loose use.^[11] In mechanics, a pair of equal and opposite forces is a couple, and in electricity a pair of plates of different metals from 1863.^[3] To join railway carriages is from 1841.^[10] The adjective, as in a couple more, is from 1924.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – verb, to link.^[3]
• c. 1280 – a married couple.^[2]
• 1338 – a pair of things.^[2]
• c. 1340 – a leash for two hounds.^[10]
• mid-14th century – verb, to marry.^[3]
• c. 1400 – verb, to copulate.^[3]
• 1841 – verb, to join railway carriages.^[10]
• 1863 – an electric couple.^[3]
• 1924 – adjective, two or a few.^[12]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Two things of the same kind; a pair.
2. Two people united, as by marriage, or together.
3. (a couple of) A few; several.
4. Something that joins two things; a link.
5. (physics) A pair of equal forces acting in parallel but opposite directions.

Verb

1. To link together; to connect.
2. To join in marriage or sexual union.
3. To form pairs.

Adjective

1. (informal) Two or a few: a couple more.

Word family

• coupledom
• coupleable
• intercouple
• thermocouple
• couple-close
• coupling
• decouple
• uncouple

Related words

• copula
• copulate
• couplet
• apt

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that couple, of two people, takes a singular or plural verb depending on whether they are considered individually or as a unit, and compares it with pair, brace and yoke.^[11]

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 j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster