co-opt
/ˈkəʊˌɒpt/
"co-opt" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“co-opt” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To elect as a fellow member of a group, such as a committee.
Corpus desk
Index EN-co-opt · co-opt · English
co-opt · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | co-opt |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkəʊˌɒpt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “co-opt” in English
Rare enough to double-check
co-opt is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈkəʊˌɒpt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for co-opt, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin cooptō (“to choose, elect”), from co(m)- + optō (“to opt”). The correct English form is co-opt, spelled C-O---O-P-T.
Definition
- 1To elect as a fellow member of a group, such as a committee.
- 2To commandeer, appropriate or take over.
- 3To absorb or assimilate into an established group, movement, category, etc.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how co-opt appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Artists' engagement with bleeding-edge tech will always have the potential to critique its destructive civil and military applications, as well as the potential to be co-opted by them—as propaganda or R&D—as the rise of the so-called knowledge economy has amply demonstrated.
In the resolution between the culture and the counterculture, it is impossible to tell who co-opted whom, because in reality the bohemians and the bourgeois co-opted each other. They emerge from this process as bourgeois bohemians, or Bobos.
Etymology
From Latin cooptō (“to choose, elect”), from co(m)- + optō (“to opt”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.