# coop

> English word · Noun · IPA /kuːp/ · frequency rank #16,874

## Definitions
1. A basket, pen or enclosure for birds or small animals.
2. A wickerwork basket (kipe) or other enclosure for catching fish.
3. A narrow place of confinement, a cage; a jail, a prison.
4. A barrel or cask for holding liquids.
5. An obstacle for a horse to jump over, shaped like an A-frame.

## Etymology
From Middle English cǒupe, cupe, from Old English cȳpe (“basket, cask”) or possibly from Middle Dutch cûpe (compare modern Dutch kuip, Saterland Frisian kupe, Middle Low German kûpe), from Old Saxon *kûpa, côpa (“cask”) (compare Middle Low German kôpe, Old High German chôfa, chuofa, Middle High German kuofe, modern regional German Kufe f (“cask”)), probably from Latin cūpa, Medieval Latin cōpa (“cask”) (thus a doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that if the word is from Latin, “it is difficult to account for the umlaut in Old English cýpe”.

## Easily confused with
- **cp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cp)
- **cup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cup)
- **cop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cop)
- **cow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cow)
- **cos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cos)
- **cox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cox)
- **cor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cor)
- **cot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cot)
- **coz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-coz)
- **coy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-coy)
- **CRO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cro)
- **CTO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cto)
- **Cov** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cov)
- **CSP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-csp)
- **cost** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cost)
- **copy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-copy)
- **core** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-core)
- **cops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-cops)
- **crap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-crap)
- **corn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coop-vs-corn)

## Common misspellings (4)
`ccoop`, `coopp`, `copo`, `ocop`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/coop