Skip to main content
PlainSpell

cop

/kɑp/verb, noun

cop is spelled C-O-P: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, cop means “To capture or arrest someone” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cop?

Letters3: C-O-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing23 times per million words; the 3,814th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is cop?

Cop appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cop?

  • UK /kɒp/
  • US /kɑp/
  • Australia /kɔp/

Cop has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-cop.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Kavunczyk-Cop.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cop.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cop?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cop from its last stressed vowel (/ɑp/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of cop

  • cops present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • copping participle, present
  • copped participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cop mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    datedinformalTo capture or arrest someone.

  2. 2

    informalTo obtain, to purchase (items including but not limited to drugs), to get hold of, to take.

  3. 3

    To (be forced to) take; to receive; to shoulder; to bear, especially blame or punishment for a particular instance of wrongdoing.

    When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father.

  4. 4

    slangTo see and record a railway locomotive for the first time.

  5. 5

    To steal.

  6. 6

    To adopt.

    No need to cop a 'tude with me, junior.

  7. 7

    slangTo admit, especially to a crime or wrongdoing.

    I already copped to the murder. What else do you want from me?

  8. 8

    slangTo recruit a prostitute into the stable.

noun

  1. 1

    informalA police officer or prison guard.

  2. 2

    A quill or tube upon which silk is wound.

  3. 3

    A merlon.

  4. 4

    A roughly dome-shaped piece of armor, especially one covering the shoulder, the elbow, or the knee.

  5. 5

    A conical ball of thread wound on to the spindle in a spinning machine.

  6. 6

    obsoleteThe top, summit, especially of a hill.

  7. 7

    obsoleteA spider.

noun

as COP
  1. 1

    UKInitialism of close of play.

  2. 2

    Initialism of conference of the parties; also CoP or Cop.

  3. 3

    Initialism of common operational picture.

  4. 4

    IrelandInitialism of community ophthalmic physician.

  5. 5

    Initialism of center of pressure.

  6. 6

    Initialism of coefficient of performance.

  7. 7

    Initialism of code of practice.

  8. 8

    Initialism of community of property.

noun

as Cop
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of COP (“conference of the parties”).

noun

as CoP
  1. 1

    Initialism of center of pressure.

  2. 2

    Alternative letter-case form of COP (“conference of the parties”).

  3. 3

    Abbreviation of Code of Points.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cop in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanerlangen, holen (to capture, to take (informal)), Bulle (police officer (informal))
Frenchflic, keuf, poulet, police (police officer (informal))
Portuguesepolícia, tira (police officer (informal))
Spanishtombo, paco, paca, madero, pitufo, pitufa (police officer (informal))

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does cop come from?

Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English *coppen, *copen, from Old English copian (“to plunder; pillage; steal”); or possibly from Middle French caper (“to capture”), from Latin capiō (“to seize, grasp”); or possibly from Dutch kapen (“to seize, hijack”), from Old Frisian kāpia (“to buy”), whence West Frisian keapje, Saterland Frisian koopje, North Frisian koopi, kuupe. Compare also Middle English copen (“to buy”), from Middle Dutch copen.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after cop