couper
French, verb/ku.pe/
couper is spelled C-O-U-P-E-R (6 letters) and appears 34 times per million words in written French, the 2,416th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Couper is a French verb meaning “to cut, cut up; to chop, to sever” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Diviser un corps continu, avec quelque chose de tranchant”.
What does couper mean in English?
verb
- 1
to cut, cut up; to chop, to sever
- 2
to cut, to clip, to trim
J'ai besoin de me faire couper les cheveux.
- 3
to cut off, to keep out, to bar
couper le cours d'une rivière
- 4
to take away
couper le souffle
- 5
to stop, prevent
couper quelqu'un dans son élan
- 6
to dilute, mix
couper du whisky avec du coca
- 7
to traverse
Le fleuve de la Garonne coupe une grande partie du sud de la France
- 8
to take a shortcut through something, to cut through
couper à travers champs
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Diviser un corps continu, avec quelque chose de tranchant. 2. Séparer en deux ou plusieurs morceaux. 3. Tailler suivant les règles de l’art. 4. Châtrer.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of couper
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- coupant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- coupé participle past
- coupe first-person indicative present
- coupes indicative present second-person
- coupons first-person indicative plural
- coupez indicative plural present
- coupent indicative plural present
- coupais first-person imperfect indicative
- coupait imperfect indicative singular
- coupions first-person imperfect indicative
- coupiez imperfect indicative plural
- coupaient imperfect indicative plural
- coupai first-person historic indicative
- coupas historic indicative past
- coupa historic indicative past
- coupâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce couper?
- /ku.pe/
- \ku.pe\
- [ku.pe]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to couper
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is couper in French?
couper appears 34 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).