in one's cups

adj

"in-one-s-cups" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“in one's cups” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Drunk; in the act of consuming alcohol liberally.

Corpus desk

Index EN-in-one-s-cups · in one's cups · English

in one's cups · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "I" 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.

Key facts for in one's cups
PropertyValue
Headwordin one's cups
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “in one's cups” sits in English frequency

in one's cups falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

in one's cups is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Drunk; in the act of consuming alcohol liberally.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for in one's cups, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is in one's cups, spelled I-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -C-U-P-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Drunk; in the act of consuming alcohol liberally.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how in one's cups appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. [T]he natives were an honest, social race of jolly roysterers, who had no objection to a drinking bout, and were very merry in their cups.
  2. They grew only the more sober in their cups; there was no confused babble nor boisterous laughter. They sucked in the joyous fire of the decanters and kept it smouldering in their inmost recesses.

Synonyms

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "in one's cups"?
"in one's cups" is spelled I-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -C-U-P-S.
What does "in one's cups" mean?
As an adjective, "in one's cups" means: Drunk; in the act of consuming alcohol liberally.
What language does "in one's cups" come from?
"in one's cups" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list