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cop

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Appendix:Variations of "cop" and чоп

Translingual

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Etymology

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Clipping of English Coptic.

Symbol

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cop

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Coptic.

See also

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English *coppen, *copen, from Old English copian (“to plunder; pillage; steal”); or possibly from Middle French caper (“to capture”), from Latin capiō (“to seize, grasp”); or possibly from Dutch kapen (“to seize, hijack”), from Old Frisian kāpia (“to buy”), whence West Frisian keapje, Saterland Frisian koopje, North Frisian koopi, kuupe. Compare also Middle English copen (“to buy”), from Middle Dutch copen.

Verb

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cop (third-person singular simple present cops, present participle copping, simple past and past participle copped)

  1. (transitive, informal, dated) To capture or arrest someone.
  2. (transitive, originally New York dialectal, informal, African-American Vernacular) To obtain, to purchase (items including but not limited to drugs), to get hold of, to take.
    • 1984, Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City, →ISBN, page 4:
      You see yourself as the kind of guy who wakes up early on Sunday morning and steps out to cop the Times and croissants.
    • 1995, Norman L. Russell, Doug Grad, Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story, page 191:
      He sold me a bulging paper sack full of Cambodian Red for two dolla' MPC. A strange experience, copping from a kid, but it was righteous weed.
    • 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, Simon & Schuster, page 10:
      Heroin appeared on the streets of our town for the first time, and Innie watched helplessly as his sixteen-year-old brother began taking the train to Harlem to cop smack.
    • 2020, Internet Money, Gunna, Don Toliver, “Lemonade”, in B4 The Storm ft. NAV:
      Off the juice, codeine got me trippin' copped the coupe, woke up, roof is missin'...
    • 2021, Polo G, “RAPSTAR”, in Einer Bankz : Synco (music), Hall of Fame:
      Uh, copped a BMW, new deposit, I picked up another bag Like fuck it, I'ma count while I'm in it...
    • 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda):
      Oh, come on. Help a brother out. People see you coppin', might inspire them. Look, I know you ain't payin' bills right now. Man must have bare peas saved up.
  3. (transitive) To (be forced to) take; to receive; to shoulder; to bear, especially blame or punishment for a particular instance of wrongdoing.
    When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father.
    • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 34:
      I take no shame to fight the lame / When they deserve to cop it.
    • 1992, “Straight Razor”, in Roxanne Shanté (lyrics), The Bitch Is Back:
      You bust in the house, another bitch’s mouth is suckin on your man's dick
      What do you do: think straight? Or do you run to the back,
      Open the trunk to the nickel-plate 38?
      “Wait wait, baby, please!”
      That's the shit he's coppin when he’s down on both his knees
    • 2009, Lee Headington, Relentless, page 5:
      I now understand that my dad didn't really have much of a father-son relationship and may have found my behaviour hard to deal with. Maybe that is why I copped a beating.
  4. (transitive, trainspotting, slang) To see and record a railway locomotive for the first time.
  5. (transitive) To steal.
  6. (transitive) To adopt.
    No need to cop a 'tude with me, junior.
  7. (intransitive, usually with “to”, slang) To admit, especially to a crime or wrongdoing.
    I already copped to the murder. What else do you want from me?
    Harold copped to being known as "Dirty Harry".
    • 2005, Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, page 295:
      He shot a guy in a bar on Martin Luther King Day and copped to first-degree manslaughter
  8. (transitive, slang, of a pimp) To recruit a prostitute into the stable.
    • 1967, Iceberg Slim, Pimp, published 2009, page 90:
      I said, 'Tell your tricks to call you here.'
      She laid the bearskin and freaked the joint off with her lights and other crap. Except for the fake stars it was a fair mock-up of her pad where I had copped her.
    • 2011, Shaheem Hargrove, Sharice Cuthrell, The Rise and Fall of a Ghetto Celebrity, page 55:
      The code was to call a pimp and tell him you have his hoe plus turn over her night trap but that was bull because the HOE was out of his stable months before I copped her.
  9. (slang, transitive) To take (a look, glance, etc.).
    Cop an eyeful of this!
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Short for copper (“police officer”), itself from the verb cop (“to lay hold of”) above, in reference to arresting criminals. An erroneous folk etymology derives it from the acronym “Constable On Patrol” (C.O.P.).

Noun

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cop (plural cops)

  1. (informal) A police officer or prison guard.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police officer
Usage notes
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  • Originally a slang term, but now in general use, including by journalists and police. Terms like police officer are generally considered more respectful.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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From Middle English coppe, from Old English *coppe, as in ātorcoppe (“spider”, literally “venom head”), from Old English copp (“top, summit, head”), from Proto-West Germanic *kopp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, round vessel, head”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve”). Cognate with Middle Dutch koppe, kobbe (“spider”). More at cobweb.

Noun

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cop (plural cops)

  2. (obsolete) A spider.
Derived terms
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Etymology 4

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From Middle English cop, coppe, from Old English cop, copp, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, basin, round object”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew-. Cognate with Dutch kop, German Kopf.

Noun

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cop (plural cops)

  1. A quill or tube upon which silk is wound.
  3. (architecture, military) A merlon.
  4. (military, historical) A roughly dome-shaped piece of armor, especially one covering the shoulder, the elbow, or the knee.
    • 2004, Kevin Grace, Tom White, Cincinnati Cemeteries: The Queen City Underground, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 142:
      […] the elbow cop or coudiere for the elbow; and the rerebrace or arriere-bras for the upper arm. The shoulder cop, pauldron or epauliere which covered the shoulder, and often a large part of the breast and back, was usually considered a part of the arm guard.
    • 2013, K. J. Parker, The Proof House, Orbit, →ISBN:
      In the middle was a pile of armour – breastplates, helmets, vambraces, gorgets, pauldrons, cops, cuisses, sabatons, gauntlets, all mangled and ruined, ...
    • 2013, George Cameron Stone, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 364:
      Tilting Cuisses 457. In the 15th century the knee cops were merged in the plate cuisses. In the East, except in Japan, knee cops as separate pieces of armor were seldom used east of Turkey.
  6. (spinning) A conical ball of thread wound on to the spindle in a spinning machine.
  7. (obsolete) The top, summit, especially of a hill.
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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See also

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Note: these terms are probably not related etymologically to the ones above.

Anagrams

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A-Pucikwar

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Etymology

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From Proto-Great Andamanese *cup.

Noun

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cop

  1. basket

References

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Catalan

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Old Catalan colp, from Late Latin colpus (“stroke”), from earlier Latin colaphus.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cop m (plural cops)

  1. hit, blow, strike
  2. time, occasion
    Synonyms: vegada, volta
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Per GDLC, possibly from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, lap; fabric fold; pocket”), with influence from copa (“cup”). First attested in 1324.[1] In some senses (e.g. "snowflake"), influenced by Spanish copo (“flake”).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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cop m (plural cops)

  1. (archaic) large cup; bowl
  2. (historical) former dry measure (compare English cup)
  3. snowflake
  4. heart of a cabbage
  5. upper part of a tree trunk (where the branches grow from)
  6. (fishing) catch bag (bag for holding caught fish, attached to a net)
  7. (weaving) skein

References

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  1. ^ “cop”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Further reading

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Chinese

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Alternative forms

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  • (eye dialect) cup

Etymology

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From clipping of English copy.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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cop

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to copy; to plagiarise
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Czech

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Etymology

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    Borrowed from German Zopf.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cop m inan

    1. braid

    Declension

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    Declension of cop (hard masculine inanimate)
    singular plural
    nominative cop copy
    genitive copu copů
    dative copu copům
    accusative cop copy
    vocative cope copy
    locative copu copech
    instrumental copem copy

    Derived terms

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    Further reading

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    French

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    Borrowed from English cop.

    Noun

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    cop m (plural cops)

    1. (North America, informal) cop (police officer)
      Synonym: flic
      Tu travailles avec les cops de Gatineau ?
      Do you work with the Gatineau cops?

    Etymology 2

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    Clipping of copain.

    Noun

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    cop m (plural cops)

    1. (informal) a friend, a pal

    Indonesian

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    Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia id

    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    Onomatopoeic. Inherited from Malay [Term?].

    Noun

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    cop (plural cop-cop)

    1. sound of a kiss on someone's cheek
      Synonyms: cup, kecup

    Verb

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    cop

    1. to kiss
      Synonyms: cup, kecup

    Etymology 2

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    Unknown. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

    Particle

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    cop

    1. foul! (expression)

    Etymology 3

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    Borrowed from English chop (“chop”).

    Noun

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    cop (plural cop-cop)

    1. (sports, badminton, tennis) chop, a blow

    Etymology 4

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    Borrowed from Acehnese [Term?].

    Verb

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    cop

    1. to repair damaged nets or nets while waiting for the schedule to go to sea

    Further reading

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    Middle English

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    From Old English cop, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cop (plural coppes)

    1. summit (of a mountain or hill)
    2. top, tip, topmost part
    3. top of the head, crown
    4. head

    Descendants

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    • English: cop
    • Scots: cop, coppe
    • Yola: kappas (plural)
    • → Welsh: copa

    References

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    Occitan

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    Noun

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    cop m (plural cops)

    1. alternative spelling of còp

    Old English

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cop m

    1. alternative form of copp

    Old French

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    Etymology 1

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    Noun

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    cop oblique singular, m (oblique plural cos, nominative singular cos, nominative plural cop)

    1. alternative form of colp

    Etymology 2

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    From Frankish *kopp.

    Noun

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    cop oblique singular, m (oblique plural cos, nominative singular cos, nominative plural cop)

    1. head
    Derived terms
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    Polish

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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      Borrowed from German Zopf.

      Noun

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      cop m inan

      1. (Chełmno) synonym of warkocz

      Etymology 2

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      See czop.

      Noun

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      cop m inan

      1. (Zagórze) alternative form of czop (“beveled end of a beam; a plug for plugging holes”)

      Further reading

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      • Kazimierz Nitsch (1907), “cop”, in “Dyalekty polskie Prus zachodnich”, in Materyały i Prace Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie (in Polish), volume 3, Krakow: Akademia Umiejętności, page 387

      Scottish Gaelic

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      Etymology

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      From Middle Irish copp, borrowed from either Old English copp or Middle English copp, both meaning "top," from Proto-West Germanic *kopp.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      cop m (genitive singular coip, nominative plural coip)

      1. foam, froth

      Derived terms

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      Verb

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      cop (past chop, future copidh, verbal noun copadh, past participle copte)

      1. capsize
      2. pour out, tip out
      3. foam, froth

      Mutation

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      Mutation of cop
      radical lenition
      cop chop

      Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
      All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

      Slovak

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      Etymology

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        Derived from German Zopf.

        Pronunciation

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        Noun

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        cop m inan (genitive singular copu, nominative plural copy, genitive plural copov, declension pattern of dub)

        1. braid
          Synonym: vrkoč

        Declension

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        Declension of cop
        (pattern dub)
        singularplural
        nominativecopcopy
        genitivecopucopov
        dativecopucopom
        accusativecopcopy
        locativecopecopoch
        instrumentalcopomcopmi

        Derived terms

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        Further reading

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        • “cop”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

        Volapük

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        Noun

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        cop (genitive copa, plural cops)

        1. hoe (tool)

        Declension

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        Declension of cop
        Singular Plural
        Nominative cop cops
        Genitive copa copas
        Dative cope copes
        Accusative copi copis
        Predicative1 copu copus
        Vocative o cop o cops
        1. Introduced in Volapük Nulik.

        Welsh

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        Etymology

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        From Middle English coppe (spider), from Old English copp, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (“round object, orb”).

        Pronunciation

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        Noun

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        cop m (plural copynnod or copynnau)

        1. (obsolete) spider
          Synonyms: copyn, corryn, pryf cop, pryf copyn

        Usage notes

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        No longer found as an independent word, cop is now used as an element in other words for "spider", such as copyn, pryf cop and pryf copyn and derived terms.

        Derived terms

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        Mutation

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        Mutated forms of cop
        radical soft nasal aspirate
        cop gop nghop chop

        Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
        All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

        References

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        • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “cop”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
        Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=cop&oldid=94593759"