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
- Two things of the same kind; a pair.
- Two people united, as by marriage, or together.
- (a couple of) A few; several.
- Something that joins two things; a link.
- (physics) A pair of equal forces acting in parallel but opposite directions.
Verb
- To link together; to connect.
- To join in marriage or sexual union.
- To form pairs.
Adjective
- (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
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster