coup
/ku/noun, verb
coup is spelled C-O-U-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, coup means “A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of coup is coups.
How many letters and syllables are in coup?
| Letters | 4: C-O-U-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 10 times per million words; the 7,121st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is coup?
Coup appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st 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 coup?
- UK /kuː/
- US /ku/
Coup 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-coup.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with coup
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: coo (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with coup?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as coup from its last stressed vowel (/u/):
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 coup
- coups plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- couping participle, present
- couped participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does coup mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.
- 2
USOf Native Americans, a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that demonstrates bravery.
- 3
A coup d'état.
- 4
A takeover of one group by another.
- 5
A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal in rouge et noir.
- 6
One of various named strategies employed by the declarer to win more tricks, such as the Bath coup.
verb
- 1
To execute a coup.
- 2
informalTo subject (a nation) to a coup d'état.
- 3
To empty out, overturn, or tilt, such as from a cart or wheelbarrow.
- 4
ScotlandTo exchange, barter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Coup in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 coup come from?
Reborrowed in modern times from modern French coup (“blow, strike”), from Old French coup, colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of cope and colpus. The same Old French word had been borrowed into Middle English as coupe, caupe (with different pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).