[koo-pon, kyoo-] 
| 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. |
| 3. | one of a number of small detachable certificates calling for periodic interest payments on a bearer bond. Compare coupon bond. |
| 4. | Metallurgy. a sample of metal or metalwork submitted to a customer or testing agency for approval. |
[kyoo-pon] 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] is mandatory.coupon
The annual interest paid on a debt security. A coupon is usually stated in terms of the rate paid on a bond's face value. For example, a 9% coupon, $1,000 principal amount bond would pay its owner $90 in interest annually. A coupon is set at the time a security is issued and, for most bonds, stays the same until maturity.
The detachable part of a coupon bond that must be presented for payment every six months in order to receive interest. See also clip, coupon clipping.