VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

コップ

コップ
hepburn koppu

cup, glass (drinking)

Part of speech · noun

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. コップに水を入れます。
    I pour water into the cup.
  2. 紙コップを使います。
    I use a paper cup.

Collocations

コップ (koppu, cup / glass — for cold drinks)カップ (kappu, cup — coffee, tea)紙コップ (kami koppu, paper cup)グラス (gurasu, drinking glass — wine)湯のみ (yunomi, Japanese tea cup)

Mnemonic

コップ koppu — loaned from Dutch kop ("cup") in pre-Meiji Dutch-studies (蘭学). Loanword trap: コップ (for cold drinks / water / milk) vs カップ (English-loan "cup" for tea/coffee) vs グラス (English-loan "glass" for wine/beer). One container word splits across three loanwords by beverage type — a major learner trap. The Dutch (pre-Meiji) and English (Meiji+) waves arrived in stages and divided the semantic field. Korean and Chinese unify with one word — cognitive split. The word compresses pre-Meiji and Meiji loan history, beverage industry, and daily tableware cluster.

Quick check

  1. Correct Japanese for "coffee cup"?

Listed inJLPT N5 · core
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