Coping

How to spell coping

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce coping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does coping mean?

1. verbPresent participle of cope: dealing effectively with something difficult or stressful.

Coping in a sentence

• She is coping remarkably well with the heavier workload.

• The counsellor suggested practical ways of coping with grief.

Where does coping come from?

Language of origin: French

The everyday sense of coping comes from the verb 'cope', which entered English in the 1300s from the Old French 'coper' or 'couper', meaning 'to strike' or 'to come to blows'. That French verb traces back to the Latin 'colaphus', a blow with the fist, which itself was borrowed from the Greek 'kolaphos', a buffet or slap. The original idea was literally to trade blows with an opponent, and from this fighting sense the meaning softened over time into 'to contend with' and finally 'to manage successfully'. The architectural meaning, the protective top course of a wall, comes from a quite separate root: 'cope' as in a cape or covering cloak, from the Medieval Latin 'capa', so that coping caps or covers the wall like a garment. The spelling is regular once you remember that 'cope' keeps its silent final 'e' only until you add the ending, dropping it to form 'coping' with a single 'p'.

How the word is built

• cope (to manage, contend)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)