Copper in its natural state.
Inherited from Middle English coper , from Old English coper , copor ( “ copper ” ) , from Late Latin cuprum ( “ copper ” ) , contraction of Latin aes Cyprium ( literally “ Cyprian brass” ) , from Ancient Greek Κύπρος ( Kúpros , “ Cyprus ” ) . Cognate with Dutch koper ( “ copper ” ) , German Kupfer ( “ copper ” ) , Icelandic kopar ( “ copper ” ) .
copper (countable and uncountable , plural coppers )
( uncountable ) A reddish-brown, malleable , ductile metallic element with high electrical and thermal conductivity , symbol Cu, and atomic number 29.
The reddish -brown colour / color of copper.
copper:
( countable , dated ) Any of various specialized items that are made of copper, where the use of copper is either traditional or vital to the function of the item.
1885 , General Rules and Regulations Applicable to All Employes of the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway Company :Coppers are generally good for a year, if the battery is carefully attended [ …]
1890 , The Manufacturer and Builder , volume 22 , page 83 :Some coppers come already tinned. I didn't buy mine, so they surely were not tinned.
1907 , “Instructions for the Care of Callaud Batteries”, in Journal of the Telegraph , volume XL:Coppers are not consumed, and their life depends largely on the manner in which they are used.
( countable ) A copper coin , typically of a small denomination , such as a penny .
1909 , Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter , New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company , published 1919 , →OCLC :"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. [ …] ."
( UK , Australia , dated ) A large pot, often used for heating water or washing clothes over a fire. In Australasia at least, it could also be a fixed installation made of copper, with a fire underneath and its own chimney. Generally made redundant by the advent of the washing machine.
Mum would heat the water in a copper in the kitchen and transfer it to the tin bath.
I explain that socks can’t be boiled up in the copper with the sheets and towels or they shrink.
1797 , “Dyeing”, in Colin Macfarquhar, George Gleig, editors, Encyclopædia Britannica: or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature , Volume 6, Part 1 p.207 :When the water in the copper boils, the arsenic and tartar, well pounded, is put into it, and kept boiling till the liquor is reduced to about half.
1886 , Peter Christen Asbjørnsen , translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales , page 6:'You had better mind you don't get up too early, and you mustn't put any fire under the copper before two o'clock.'
1898 , H.G. Wells , The War of the Worlds , London: William Heinemann, page 230 :He rose to his knees, for he had been sitting in the darkness near the copper .
1907 , Barbara Baynton , edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980 , page 254 :'Vot game now she play?' he asked himself, as he distinguished his wife near one of the pig-scalding coppers .
2000 , Christopher Christie, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century , page 266 :The wet laundry's stove had a long vent in the ceiling which helped to release the steam from the coppers in which the clothes and bed linen were boiled.
( entomology ) Any of various lycaenid butterflies with copper-coloured upperwings, especially those of the genera Lycaena and Paralucia .
chemical element Cu
Abkhaz: абҩа ( abjʷa )
Acehnese: teumaga
Afar: naxas
Afrikaans: koper (af)
Ainu: フレカネ ( hurekane )
Albanian: bakër (sq) m , rem (sq) m , qipër f
Amharic: መዳብ ( mädab ) , ነሕስ ( näḥs )
Arabic: نُحَاس (ar) m ( nuḥās ) , نَحَاس (ar) m ( naḥās )
Moroccan Arabic: نحاس ( nḥās )
Argobba: ነህስ ( nähes )
Armenian: պղինձ (hy) ( pġinj )
Aromanian: aramã f , bãcãri f , bacrã f , halcumã f
Assamese: তাম ( tam )
Asturian: cobre (ast) m
Azerbaijani: mis (az)
Bashkir: баҡыр ( baqır ) , еҙ ( yeź )
Basque: kobre (eu)
Bats: წასტ ( c̣asṭ )
Belarusian: медзь (be) f ( mjedzʹ )
Bengali: তামা (bn) ( tama )
Berber:
Tashelhit: anas m
Breton: kouevr (br) m
Bulgarian: мед (bg) f ( med ) , бакър (bg) m ( bakǎr ) ( rare )
Burmese: ကြေးနီ (my) ( kre:ni )
Buryat: зэд ( zed )
Catalan: coure (ca) m
Central Melanau: tebagak
Chakma: please add this translation if you can
Chechen: цӏаста ( cʼasta )
Cherokee: ᎥᏣᏱ ( vtsayi ) , ᏣᏱ ( tsayi )
Chichewa: mkuwa
Chinese:
Cantonese: 銅 / 铜 ( tung4 )
Eastern Min: 銅 / 铜 ( dè̤ng )
Hokkien: 銅 / 铜 (zh-min-nan) ( tâng )
Mandarin: 銅 / 铜 (zh) ( tóng )
Chukchi: четԓёчеԓ ( četḷjočeḷ )
Chuvash: пӑхӑр ( păh̬ăr )
Coptic: ϩⲟⲙⲧ m ( homt )
Cornish: cober , kober m
Crimean Tatar: baqır
Czech: měď (cs) f
Danish: kobber (da) n
Dargwa: дубси ( dubsi )
Dhivehi: ރަތުލޯ ( ratulō )
Dolgan: алтан
Dutch: koper (nl) n
Dzongkha: ཟངས ( zangs )
Eastern Bontoc: kianfiang
Eastern Mari: вӱрге́не ( vürgéńe )
Esperanto: kupro (eo)
Estonian: vask (et)
Faroese: kopar n
Finnish: kupari (fi) , vaski (fi) ( archaic )
French: cuivre (fr) m
Friulian: ram m
Fula:
Adlam: 𞤧𞤭𞤤𞤢
Latin: sila
Gagauz: bakır
Galician: cobre (gl) m
Ge'ez: ናሕስ ( naḥs )
Georgian: სპილენძი (ka) ( sṗilenʒi )
German: Kupfer (de) n
Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐌶 n ( aiz )
Greek: χαλκός (el) m ( chalkós )
Ancient: χαλκός m ( khalkós )
Greenlandic: kanngussak (kl)
Guerrero Amuzgo: ndyé
Gujarati: તાંબું ( tā̃bũ )
Haitian Creole: kwiv
Hebrew: נחושת / נְחֹשֶׁת (he) f ( nekhóshet )
Hindi: तांबे ( tāmbe ) , ताँबा (hi) m ( tāmbā )
Hungarian: réz (hu)
Icelandic: eir (is) m or n , kopar (is) m
Ilocano: tanso
Indonesian: tembaga (id)
Ingush: цӏаста ( cʼasta )
Interlingua: cupro
Iranun: please add this translation if you can
Irish: copar (ga) m , umha m
Italian: rame (it) m
Japanese: 銅 (ja) ( どう, dō ) , 銅 (ja) ( あかがね, akagane ) , カッパー (ja) ( kappā )
Javanese: tembaga (jv)
Kannada: ತಾಮ್ರ (kn) ( tāmra )
Kapampangan: tangsu
Karachay-Balkar: багъыр ( bağır ) , жез ( jez ) , джез ( cez )
Kashubian: (please verify ) kòper
Kazakh: мыс (kk) ( mys )
Khakas: чис ( çis ) , пағыр ( pağır )
Khmer: ស្ពាន់ (km) ( spoan )
Komi-Zyrian: ыргӧн ( yrgön )
Korean: 구리 (ko) ( guri ) , 구리쇠 ( gurisoe ) , 동(銅) (ko) ( dong ) , 적금(赤金) (ko) ( jeokgeum )
Kumyk: багъыр ( bağır ) , ез ( yez )
Kyrgyz: жез (ky) ( jez )
Ladin: please add this translation if you can
Lao: ທອງແດງ ( thǭng dǣng )
Latgalian: vars m
Latin: aes (la) n , cyprum n , cuprum (la) n , aerāmen n
Latvian: varš (lv) m
Laz: ლიჯი ( lici ) , პრინჯი ( p̌rinci )
Ligurian: rammo m
Lithuanian: varis (lt) m
Livonian: vašk
Lombard: ramm (lmo) m
Low German:
Dutch Low Saxon: kopper (nds) n , keuper n
German Low German: Kopper n
Lü: please add this translation if you can
Lubuagan Kalinga: gambyang
Luxembourgish: Koffer (lb) m
Macedonian: ба́кар (mk) m ( bákar )
Maguindanao: galang
Malay: kuprum (ms) , tembaga (ms)
Malayalam: ചെമ്പ് (ml) ( cempŭ )
Maltese: ram m
Manchu: ᡤᡳᠣᠸᠠᠨ ( giowan )
Mansi:
Northern Mansi: аргин ( argin )
Manx: cobbyr
Maori: kapa , konukura
Maranao: tombaga
Minangkabau: tambago (min)
Mingrelian: ლინჯი ( linǯi )
Mòcheno: kupfer n
Mon: please add this translation if you can
Mongolian: зэс (mn) ( zes )
Nahuatl: chichiltic tepoztli
Nanai: гион ( gion )
Navajo: béésh łichíiʼii
Nepali: तामा ( tāmā )
Norman: rouoge tchuivre m ( Jersey )
Northern Sami: veaiki
Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kobber (no) n , kopper (no) n
Nynorsk: kopar (nn) m , kåppår m ( dialectal )
Occitan: coire (oc) m
Ojibwe: miskwaabik
Old English: ār n
Old Javanese: tambaga
Old Norse: koparr m
Old Tupi: itanema , itaîunema
Oroqen: gɛ꞉yin
Ossetian: ӕрхуы ( ærx°y )
Ottoman Turkish: باقر ( bakır )
Pashto: مس m ( mes )
Persian: مس (fa) ( mes )
Piedmontese: aram m , ram m
Polish: miedź (pl) f
Portuguese: cobre (pt) m
Punjabi: ਤਾਂਬਾ (pa) m ( tāmbā )
Quechua: anta
Rakhine: please add this translation if you can
Rohingya: please add this translation if you can
Romagnol: râm m
Romanian: cupru (ro) m , aramă (ro) f
Romansch: arom m , irom m , aram m
Russian: медь (ru) f ( medʹ ) , ку́прум m ( kúprum )
Sanskrit: ताम्रक (sa) ( tāmraka ) , ताम्र (sa) m ( tāmra )
Sardinian: arràmene , arràmini , ràmene , ràmini
Scottish Gaelic: copar m
Sebop: temaga'
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: бакар m
Roman: bakar (sh) m
Shan: please add this translation if you can
Shor: чес ( çes )
Sicilian: ramu (scn)
Slovak: meď f
Slovene: baker (sl) m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: kupor m
Southern Altai: јес ( ǰes )
Southern Kalinga: kantar
Spanish: cobre (es) m
Sumerian: 𒍏 ( urud )
Svan: ჩეი̄ ( čeī )
Swahili: shaba (sw)
Swedish: koppar (sv) c
Sylheti: please add this translation if you can
Tagalog: tanso
Tajik: мис ( mis )
Tamil: செம்பு (ta) ( cempu )
Tatar: бакыр (tt) ( baqır )
Telugu: రాగి (te) ( rāgi ) , తామ్రము (te) ( tāmramu )
Thai: ทองแดง (th) ( tɔɔng-dɛɛng )
Tibetan: ཟངས ( zangs )
Tocharian B: pilke
Tsonga: nsina
Tulu: താംബ്ര ( tāmbra ) , ತಾಂಬ್ರ ( tāmbra )
Tumbuka: mkuwa
Turkish: bakır (tr)
Turkmen: mis
Tuvan: чес ( çes ) , хола ( xola )
Tuwali Ifugao: galamat , gombang
Ugaritic: 𐎘𐎍𐎘 ( ṯlṯ )
Ukrainian: мідь (uk) f ( midʹ ) , купрум m ( kuprum )
Urdu: تانبا ( tānbā )
Uyghur: مىس ( mis )
Uzbek: mis (uz)
Cyrillic: мис m ( mis )
Venetian: rame
Vietnamese: đồng (vi) (銅 )
Vilamovian: köpfer n , köpper n
Volapük: kuprin (vo)
Welsh: copor
West Frisian: koper
Western Bukidnon Manobo: tumbaɣa
White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
Yakut: алтан ( altan )
Yiddish: קופּער n ( kuper )
Zhuang: doengz
ǃXóõ: ǂkxʻái
copper (comparative more copper , superlative most copper )
Made of copper.
Having the reddish-brown colour/color of copper.
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 :All in a hot and copper sky, / The bloody Sun, at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the Moon.
1999 , Maria M. Gillan, Things My Mother Told Me , page 38 :She seemed so alive, with her shining eyes and her copper hair and her jokes and funny stories, but there was always a mystery at the center of her life, the sound of wild sobbing my mother said she heard coming through the floor.
( made of copper ) : coppern ( archaic )
( having the colour/color of copper ) : coppery
made of copper
Albanian: bakërt (sq)
Breton: kouevr (br) , kouevrek
Bulgarian: ме́ден (bg) m ( méden )
Catalan: courenc
Czech: měděný (cs)
Dutch: koperen (nl)
Esperanto: kupra
Finnish: kuparinen (fi) , vaskinen (fi) ( archaic )
German: kupfern (de) , küpfern
Greek: χάλκινος (el) m ( chálkinos )
Ancient: χάλκεος ( khálkeos ) , χάλκειος ( khálkeios )
Interlingua: (please verify ) de cupro , (please verify ) cuprose
Japanese: 銅製 (ja) ( どうせい, dōsei )
Latin: cupreus , aereus , aēnus , aēneus (la) , aerārius
Persian: مسی (fa) ( mesi ) , مسین (fa) ( mesin )
Polish: miedziany (pl)
Portuguese: de cobre , cúprico
Romanian: din cupru
Romansch: d'arom
Russian: ме́дный (ru) ( médnyj )
Scottish Gaelic: umhach (gd)
Sicilian: ramatu m
Slovak: medený (sk)
Swahili: shaba (sw)
Telugu: రాగి (te) ( rāgi )
Ukrainian: мі́дний ( mídnyj )
Yiddish: קופּערדיק ( kuperdik ) , קופּערן ( kupern )
having the colour of copper
copper (third-person singular simple present coppers , present participle coppering , simple past and past participle coppered )
To sheathe or coat with copper.
sheathe or coat in copper
From cop ( “ to take, capture, seize ” ) + -er ( agent noun suffix) .
copper (plural coppers )
( slang , law enforcement ) A police officer .
Synonyms: police officer , constable , cop ; see also Thesaurus:police officer
slang: policeman
Bulgarian: полицай (bg) m ( policaj ) , ченге (bg) n ( čenge )
Dutch: smeris (nl) m , wout (nl) m
Finnish: jepari (fi) , kyttä (fi) , sinivuokko (fi)
French: flic (fr) m , keuf (fr) m ( colloquial, vulgar, Verlan ) , poulet (fr) m , poulaga (fr) m ( rare, colloquial, slang )
German: Bulle (de) m ( derogatory )
Greek: μπάτσος (el) m ( bátsos )
Hungarian: zsaru (hu) , hekus (hu)
Italian: agente di polizia (it) m , poliziotto (it)
Macedonian: цајкан m ( cajkan ) , џандар f ( džandar ) , полица́ец m ( policáec )
Portuguese: tira (pt) m , policial (pt)
Russian: полице́йский (ru) m ( policéjskij ) , лега́вый (ru) m ( legávyj )
Slovak: fízel m
Spanish: paco (es) m ( colloquial, derogatory, Chile )
Swahili: shaba (sw)
Turkish: aynasız (tr)
David Barthelmy (1997–2024 ) “Copper ”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database .
"copper " in Mindat.org , Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2021.
copper
Alternative form of coper