Co-operative or cooperative?
co-operative is an adjective meaning “Alternative spelling of cooperative”; cooperative is an adjective meaning “Ready to work with another person or in a team; ready to cooperate”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. co-operative is written with a hyphen and cooperative as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between co-operative and cooperative?
| co-operative | cooperative | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | Alternative spelling of cooperative | Ready to work with another person or in a team; ready to cooperate Involving cooperation between individuals or parties A type of company that is owned partially or wholly by its employees, customers or tenants |
| Example | none recorded | The patient was rarely cooperative, and tended to refuse treatment |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /kuˈɑp.ɹətɪv/ /kɔˈɑp.ɹətɪv/ /kɔˈap.ɹətɪv/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 7.2 times per million words |
Sources: co-operative and cooperative in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of co-operative and cooperative
co-operative
- 1
Alternative spelling of cooperative
- 2
Alternative spelling of cooperative
cooperative
- 1
Ready to work with another person or in a team; ready to cooperate
The patient was rarely cooperative, and tended to refuse treatment
- 2
A type of company that is owned partially or wholly by its employees, customers or tenants
- 3
Dated spelling of cooperative
- 4
Involving cooperation between individuals or parties
a cooperative game
- 5
Relating to a cooperative or cooperatives
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, co-operative or cooperative?
co-operative is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; cooperative 7.2 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).