Couple

How to spell couple

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce couple

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does couple mean?

1. nounTwo people who are married or in a romantic relationship, considered together.
2. nounAn indefinite small number of things, usually about two.
3. verbTo join or link two things together.

Couple in a sentence

• noun

  The couple celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary in Rome.

• noun

  We will need a couple of extra chairs for the meeting.

• verb

  The crew will couple the carriages together before the train departs.

• noun

  A young couple moved into the flat next door last week.

• noun

  She finished the report in a couple of hours.

• verb

  A sturdy bracket can couple the two pipes without leaking.

Where does couple come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Couple comes from the Latin copula, which meant a bond, a tie, or a link, the same word that joins two things together; copula itself was formed from co- 'together' and apere 'to fasten'. In Latin it could describe anything that bound two parts into one, including a leash that held a pair of hunting dogs. The word passed into Old French as cople or couple, carrying the sense of a pair joined together, and English adopted it in the 1200s, first for two people or animals linked as a set. From the idea of a fastened pair the word naturally grew the verb sense 'to join', and the looser everyday sense of 'a small number, about two'. The grammatical term 'copula', the linking verb in a sentence, is a close relative that kept the original Latin spelling, while couple shows the softened French form with its tricky 'ou'.

How the word is built

• coupl- (from Latin copula: a bond, a link)
• -e