copper

copper · noun, adjective, verb¹

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromΚῠ́προς“Cyprus”
2. Latin · derived fromaes Cyprium
3. Late Latin · derived fromcuprum“copper”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*kopr
5. Old English · inherited fromcoper
6. Middle English · inherited fromcoper
7. English todaycopper

The noun is inherited from Middle English coper, copper (“copper ore; copper metal; bronze”), from Old English coper, copor (“copper”), from Proto-West Germanic *kopr, 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).

copper · noun, verb²

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.

copper · noun³

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 from the same roots