beaucoup

American  

[boh-koo, boo-koo] / boʊˈku, ˈbuˈku /

adjective

Informal: Usually Facetious.

1. many, numerous, or much.

   It's a hard job, but it pays beaucoup money.

2. of considerable size; large; significant.

   a beaucoup building project.

---

Etymology

Origin of beaucoup

First recorded in 1755–60; from French; see origin at beau, coup ¹

Explanation

Beaucoup means "a lot." There's beaucoup interesting things to learn out there, but unfortunately also beaucoup responsibilities of daily life to interfere with learning about them. Beaucoup is a loanword from French, where it means "much" or "a lot." (It actually comes from two words meaning "beautiful or great" and "hit or pile.") In English, it was borrowed verbally, often by non-French speakers, so it's been spelled a pretty wide variety of ways: boocoo, boocup, buku, and beaucoup more, so you might have heard it without knowing it was spelled like that.

Example Sentences

In addition to beaucoup Grammys, he became the first artist outside jazz and classical music to win the Pulitzer Prize.

From New York Times • Dec. 27, 2022

That means when you popped up in 1860, you could invest in a brass button foundry and clean up when the Union Army suddenly needs beaucoup buttons for its soldiers’ uniforms.

From Washington Post • Feb. 6, 2022

I wonder what happens if we’re shutting everything down but letting transit run full force, but I also recognize the obvious need to have some infrastructure, but maybe not this beaucoup amazing frequent service.

From Slate • Mar. 19, 2020

They made beaucoup bucks in the beer biz, now they’re branching out into reality TV in the new series “The Busch Family Brewed.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2020

“Merci beaucoup, je suis désolée—” Thank you so much, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—seems like I’m always saying “Thank you, I’m sorry.”

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein