coup

/\ku\/ noun

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#226

in French word usage

Misspellings

5

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

coup is aFrenchnoun. It means: Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant. Pronounced \ku\. It ranks #226 in French word frequency. Often confused with CP and cul.

Key facts for coup
PropertyValue
Headwordcoup
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ku\
Letters4
Frequency rank#226
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of coup in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for coup is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ku\. Corpus data places it at rank #226 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for coup, with forms such as "ccoup", "copu", and "coupp". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CP", "cul", "cru", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is coup, spelled C-O-U-P, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant.
  2. 2
    Se dit en parlant des choses qui nuisent, qui causent un sentiment pénible, etc.
  3. 3
    Décharge et bruit que font les armes à feu lorsqu’on les tire.
  4. 4
    Évènement imprévu qui a frappé quelqu’un soudainement.
  5. 5
    Son que rendent certains corps lorsqu’ils viennent à être frappés.
  6. 6
    Action rapide et momentanée.
  7. 7
    Ce qu’on fait rapidement, légèrement, ou sans y apporter le même soin que de coutume.
  8. 8
    Petite quantité de quelque chose.
  9. 9
    Mouvement impétueux, comme du vent qui souffle sur la mer, d’une tempête.
  10. 10
    Manière de jouer, chance au jeu.
  11. 11
    Action humaine inattendue.
  12. 12
    Fois.
  13. 13
    Quantité que l’on boit en une fois.
  14. 14
    Acte sexuel expéditif.
  15. 15
    Partie, sortie.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccoup,copu,coupp,cuop,ocup

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for coup

Misspelling Variants of "coup"

ccoup5copu4coupp5cuop4ocup4
Misspelling Variants of "coup"

Frequency rank: #226 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "coup"?
"coup" is spelled C-O-U-P. The IPA pronunciation is \ku\.
What does "coup" mean?
As a noun, "coup" means: Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant.
What words are commonly confused with "coup"?
"coup" is commonly confused with "CP", "cul", "cru". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "coup"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coup" is \ku\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "coup" come from?
"coup" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.