Cope

How to spell cope

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce cope

What does cope mean?

1. verbTo deal effectively with something difficult or stressful.

Cope in a sentence

• New parents often struggle to cope on very little sleep.

• The small team could barely cope with the surge in customer orders.

Where does cope come from?

Language of origin: French

The everyday verb cope reached English in the 1300s from the Old French couper or coper, meaning 'to strike' or 'to come to blows', which itself grew from colp, a blow, traced back through Latin to the Greek kolaphos, meaning a punch or buffet. Its earliest English sense was literally to meet an enemy in battle and trade blows, so to cope once meant to fight or clash. Over the centuries that combative idea softened into the modern notion of standing up to and managing whatever life throws at you. The same colp root that gave English the boxing-style 'cope' also survives in the French coup, a sudden blow or stroke, as in coup d'etat. There is a separate, unrelated noun cope, a long ceremonial cloak worn by clergy, which comes from the Latin cappa, meaning a hooded cape, the same source as 'cap' and 'cape'.

How the word is built

• cope (from Old French couper 'to strike, come to blows'), no affixes