coupon

[ koo-pon, kyoo- ]
See synonyms for coupon on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a portion of a certificate, ticket, label, advertisement, or the like, set off from the main body by dotted lines or the like to emphasize its separability, entitling the holder to something, as a gift or discount, or for use as an order blank, a contest entry form, etc.

  2. a separate certificate, ticket, etc., for the same purpose.

  1. Finance. one of a number of small detachable certificates calling for periodic interest payments on a bearer bond.: Compare coupon bond.

  2. Metallurgy. a sample of metal or metalwork submitted to a customer or testing agency for approval.

Origin of coupon

1
1815–25; <French; Old French colpon piece cut off, equivalent to colp(er) to cut (see cope1) + -on noun suffix

pronunciation note For coupon

Coupon, related to cope and coup, is of French origin. It has developed an American pronunciation variant [kyoo-pon] /ˈkyu pɒn/ with an unhistorical y -sound not justified by the spelling. This pronunciation is used by educated speakers and is well-established as perfectly standard, although it is sometimes criticized. Its development may have been encouraged by analogy with words like curious, cupid, and cute, where c is followed by a “long u ” and the [y] /y/ is mandatory.

Other words from coupon

  • cou·pon·less, adjective

Words Nearby coupon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use coupon in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for coupon

coupon

/ (ˈkuːpɒn) /


noun
    • a detachable part of a ticket or advertisement entitling the holder to a discount, free gift, etc

    • a detachable slip usable as a commercial order form

    • a voucher given away with certain goods, a certain number of which are exchangeable for goods offered by the manufacturers

  1. one of a number of detachable certificates attached to a bond, esp a bearer bond, the surrender of which entitles the bearer to receive interest payments

  1. one of several detachable cards used for making hire-purchase payments

  2. a ticket issued to facilitate rationing

  3. British a detachable entry form for any of certain competitions, esp football pools

Origin of coupon

1
C19: from French, from Old French colpon piece cut off, from colper to cut, variant of couper; see cope 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012