Word.ws English Dictionary

copper

Syllables: cop·per/ˈkɒpə//ˈkɑpəɹ/

copper noun: a reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal made up of this element.

copper: a reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal...
Image: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

copper (countable and uncountable, plural coppers)

  1. (uncountable) A reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal made up of this element.
    • Men talke much […] of the Philoſophers ſtone, that it turneth copper into gold; […]1611, [Miles Smith], “The Translators to the Reader”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC
    • Through the clear smooth water her copper shone brightly; […]1836, [Frederick] Marryat, “The Pirate. Chapter VII. Sleeper's Bay.”, in The Pirate, and The Three Cutters. […], London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, →OCLC, page 61
  2. (broadly, uncountable) The reddish-brown colour of copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1).
    • Near-synonyms: chestnut, russet
    Synonyms:
    chestnut, russet
    1. (broadly, countable) In full copper butterfly: any of various lycaenid butterflies with copper-coloured upperwings, especially those of the genera Lycaena and Paralucia.
  3. (broadly, countable, dated) Any of various specialized items made of copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1), where the use of the metal is either necessary or traditional to the function of the item.
    • Coppers are generally good for a year, if the battery is carefully attended; they should, however, be removed before they have increased to such a size that their removal might cause the destruction of the glass jars.1885 December, “Main Batteries”, in General Rules and Regulations Applicable to All Employes of the Chicago and Grand Trunk R[ailwa]y Company, Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee R’y, and Railways...
    • Every millwright should have some soldering tools, and he ought to know how to use them. […] Coppers weighing one pound each are the smallest ever needed in a paper mill, and one 2-pound copper should be bought also. […] Having made the solder and bought "coppers," the first job is to tin them....1890 August, “Some Soldering Kinks”, in William H. Wahl, editor, The Manufacturer and Builder: A Practical Journal of Industrial Progress, volume XXII, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Henri Gerard, →OCLC...
    1. (broadly, countable, dated) A copper mug used for drinking alcoholic beverages.
      • [H]e slid down from his seat, and darted into the public house, reappearing in a few moments with a copper of ale and a horn in his hand: he and another man held open the horses' mouths, and poured the ale through the horn down their throats.1812, [Maria] Edgeworth, “The Absentee. Chapter XIII.”, in Tales of Fashionable Life (2nd series), volume VI, London: […] [Heney] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, page 238
    2. (broadly, countable, dated) A copper sheet on which an image or writing is engraved.
      • [H]e went to sleep, taking first out of his pocket a book,[…]. It proved to be my old favorite author, [John] Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in Dutch, finely printed on good paper, with copper cuts, a dress better than I had ever seen it wear in its own language.1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 1]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868...
    3. (broadly, countable, dated) A coin, typically of a small denomination, originally made of copper and now chiefly of other metals such as bronze; specifically, an English or British penny or halfpenny; also, a United States cent; (uncountable) coins made of copper collectively.
      • Light VVenches may proue plagues to men forſ[w]orne, / If ſo our Copper byes no better treaſure.c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby...
      • I remember the time when rascally company were kept out, and the unlucky boys with toys and balls were whipped away by a beadle. I have seen this done indeed of late, but then it has been only to chase away the lads from chuck, that the beadle might seize their copper.1712 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, October 14, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 509; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume...
    4. (US, broadly, countable, dated) In the game of faro: originally a copper coin, now usually a small disc or token, placed on a playing card to indicate that a player bets against that card.
    5. (Australia, UK, broadly, countable, dated) A large pot, originally made of copper but later often of iron, filled with water and heated over a fire for cooking, washing clothes, etc.
      • Mum would heat the water in a copper in the kitchen and transfer it to the tin bath.
      • Socks can’t be boiled up in the copper with the sheets and towels or they shrink.

Adjective

copper (comparative more copper, superlative most copper)

  1. Made of copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1).
    • Contrasting vividly with this ruin was the neat dresser, stained in the fashion, pale green, and with a number of copper and tin vessels below it, the wall-paper imitating blue and white tiles, and a couple of coolured supplements fluttering from the walls above the kitchen range.1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Under Foot”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book II (The Earth under the Martians), page 198
    Synonyms:
    coppern
  2. Having the reddish-brown colour of copper.
    • All in a hot and copper sky, / The bloody Sun, at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the Moon.1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC
    • Cold and terror had produced a chance in her complexion, which now wore a yellow, or sort of copper hue.1836, [Frederick] Marryat, “The Pirate. Chapter I. The Bay of Biscay.”, in The Pirate, and The Three Cutters. […], London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, →OCLC, page 4
    Synonyms:
    coppery, copperish

Verb (1)

copper (third-person singular simple present coppers, present participle coppering, simple past and past participle coppered)

  1. (transitive) To coat or sheathe (something) with copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1).
  2. (transitive) To give (something) a colour by applying a copper salt.
  3. (dated, transitive) To give copper coins to (someone); to pay.
  4. (US, transitive) In the game of faro: to place a copper coin, or now usually a small disc or token, on (a playing card) to indicate that a player bets against that card.
    1. (US, figuratively, transitive) To bet against (something).
      • [T]hey are going to take this whole Mississippi, and twist it around and make it run several miles up stream. […] [Y]ou have n't got to believe they can do such miracles, have you? And yet you ain't absolutely obliged to believe they can't. I reckon the safe way, where a man can afford it, is to...1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Uncle Mumford Unloads”, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC, page 304
      • The dive is off. Better copper your bets while there's time.1929 February 1, Dashiell Hammett, “A Black Knife”, in Red Harvest, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1931, →OCLC, page 95

Noun (2)

copper (plural coppers)

  1. (Australia, UK, slang, transitive) A police officer, especially one in uniform.
    • If you're caught by a copper, it's his job to pinch you, isn't it? You can hold him up with a gun, but he's got to come on, even if he gets killed. […] It's not fair on the coppers either; they've got their duty to do, and it's dirty to kill a man for doing his job.1923, Edgar Wallace, chapter XIV, in The Missing Million, London: John Long, […], published 1927, →OCLC, pages 115–116
    • A uniformed copper came in. The chief jerked a thumb at MacSwain and said: "Take this baby down cellar and let the wrecking crew work on him before you lock him up."1929 February 1, Dashiell Hammett, “A New Deal”, in Red Harvest, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1931, →OCLC, page 124
  2. (US, dated, historical, slang, transitive) Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a private detective or a security guard.
    • I went to the phone and asked the girl to send the house copper [of the hotel] up.1929 February 1, Dashiell Hammett, “A Tip on Kid Cooper”, in Red Harvest, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1931, →OCLC, page 83
  3. (Australia, UK, slang, transitive) A person working as an informer for the police; a nark
  4. (Australia, UK, slang, transitive) A prisoner who informs on fellow prisoners.

Verb (2)

copper (third-person singular simple present coppers, present participle coppering, simple past and past participle coppered)

  1. (UK, slang, transitive) To inform on (someone) to the police; to nark.
  2. (US, archaic, slang, transitive) To arrest (someone).
  3. (UK, intransitive, slang, transitive) To inform on someone to the police.
    • "It's no use your staying here, because I'm not going to copper anybody," said the woman truculently. "My lodgers are respectable people; they keep themselves to themselves, and I keep myself to myself.[…]"1923, Edgar Wallace, chapter XXXVII, in The Missing Million, London: John Long, […], published 1927, →OCLC, page 211

Noun (3)

copper (plural coppers)

  1. (slang, transitive) A component of the cop (“conical ball of thread wound on to the spindle”) in a spinning machine.

Proper noun capitalized: Copper

Copper (plural Coppers)

  1. A surname.

copper meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

copper in Hindi

any of various specialized items made of copper
ताम्र tāmra
reddish-brown metallic chemical element with the atomic number 29; the metal made up of this element
ताँबा tāmbā, ताम्र tāmra

copper in Tamil

reddish-brown metallic chemical element with the atomic number 29; the metal made up of this element
செம்பு cempu

copper in Marathi

copper
तांबे tāmbe

copper in Urdu

reddish-brown metallic chemical element with the atomic number 29; the metal made up of this element
تانبا tānbā
More languagesFewer languages
copper in Bengali
তামা tama
copper in Telugu
రాగి rāgi, తామ్రము tāmramu
copper in Malayalam
ചെമ്പ് cempŭ
copper in Kannada
ತಾಮ್ರ tāmra
copper in Punjabi
ਤਾਂਬਾ tāmbā
copper in Gujarati
તાંબું tā̃bũ
copper in Odia
ତମ୍ବା, ତାମ୍ର, ତାମାର
copper in Sanskrit
ताम्रक tāmraka, ताम्र tāmra
copper in Sinhala
තඹ taᵐba
copper in Assamese
তাম tam
copper in Nepali
ताम्र tāmra, तामा tāmā
copper in Pashto
مس mes
copper in Tagalog
kulay-tanso, tanso
copper in Arabic
نُحَاسِيّ nuḥāsiyy, نُحَاس nuḥās, نحاس
copper in Malay
kuprum, tembaga
copper in Indonesian
tembaga
copper in Persian
مسی mesi, مسین mesin, مس mes
copper in Thai
ทองแดง tɔɔng-dɛɛng
copper in Vietnamese
màu đồng, đồng, chén đồng
copper in Myanmar
ကြေးနီ kre:ni
Dhivehi
ރަތުލޯ ratulō
Dzongkha
ཟངས zangs

Examples of copper in a sentence

  • [Donald] Trump's July 8 announcement of a 50% tariff on copper imports beginning August 1 sent prices surging 13% in one day, up to a record high of $5.69 per pound.2025 July 17, John Towfighi, “Copper Prices have Surged to Record Highs – and They could Jump Higher. Here’s Why”, in CNN Business...
  • I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold.1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 3]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia...
  • [O]ne feels a difficulty in offering a princess the change for a shilling in coppers.1876, [Walter Besant, James Rice], chapter V, in The Golden Butterfly. […], volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 83:
  • Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal.[…]."1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “In the Bay of Biscay”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York...

All 40 example sentences with copper

Synonyms of copper

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of copper

Forms of copper

Noun
pluralcoppers
Adjective
comparativemore copper
superlativemost copper
Verb
third-person singular presentcoppers
present participlecoppering
past participlecoppered
pastcoppered
Proper noun
pluralCoppers

Plural of copper: coppers

Origin of copper

The noun is inherited from Middle English coper, copper (“copper ore; copper metal; bronze”), from Old English coper, copor (“copper”), from Late Latin cuprum (“copper”), a contraction of Latin aes Cyprium (literally “Cyprian brass or copper”), ultimately from Ancient Greek Κῠ́προς (Kŭ́pros, “Cyprus”) (a major source of copper during the Near East’s Bronze Age), from the name of a Northwest Semitic goddess from the root כ־ב־ר/ك ب ر (k b r) (“related to being big, large; great; or old”). Doublet of kobo. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun. cognates * Dutch koper (“copper”) * German Kupfer (“copper”) * Icelandic kopar (“copper”) Compare typologically Argentina (< Latin argentum, an opposite semantic shift); turquoise (akin to Turk).

The noun is probably derived from cop (“(informal, dated) to arrest or capture (someone)”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns), although cop is attested slightly later. The verb is derived from the noun.

From cop (“ball of thread wound on to a spindle in a spinning machine”) + -er (suffix denoting things relating to the words to which the suffix is attached to).

Words formed from copper

Phrases with copper

37 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with copper

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about copper

What does copper mean?
Copper means a reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal made up of this element.
What is copper in Hindi?
Copper in Hindi is ताम्र (tāmra), ताँबा (tāmbā). See Copper meaning in Hindi.
How do you use copper in a sentence?
[Donald] Trump's July 8 announcement of a 50% tariff on copper imports beginning August 1 sent prices surging 13% in one day, up to a record high of $5.69 per pound.
What part of speech is copper?
Copper can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce copper?
Copper is pronounced /ˈkɒpə/ (UK).
What is the plural of copper?
The plural of copper is coppers.

Words near copper in the dictionary

  1. Coppell
  2. coppelled
  3. coppelling
  4. coppels
  5. Coppenhall
  6. copper
  7. copper acetate
  8. copper acetates
  9. Copper Age
  10. copper aspirinate
  11. copper barilla

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: copper (page history and authors); Copper (page history and authors); तांबे (Marathi) (page history and authors); copper (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); තඹ (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Tesco250-copper.wav, En-us-copper.ogg.

Cite this entry: “copper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/copper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.