coupon

American  

[koo-pon, kyoo-] / ˈku pɒn, ˈkju- /

noun

• coupons
  plural

1. a portion of a certificate, ticket, label, advertisement, or the like, set off from the main body by dotted lines or the like to emphasize its separability, entitling the holder to something, as a gift or discount, or for use as an order blank, a contest entry form, etc.

2. a separate certificate, ticket, etc., for the same purpose.

3. Finance. one of a number of small detachable certificates calling for periodic interest payments on a bearer bond.

4. Metallurgy. a sample of metal or metalwork submitted to a customer or testing agency for approval.

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coupon British  

/ ˈkuːpɒn /

noun

1. 1. a detachable part of a ticket or advertisement entitling the holder to a discount, free gift, etc

   2. a detachable slip usable as a commercial order form

   3. a voucher given away with certain goods, a certain number of which are exchangeable for goods offered by the manufacturers

2. one of a number of detachable certificates attached to a bond, esp a bearer bond, the surrender of which entitles the bearer to receive interest payments

3. one of several detachable cards used for making hire-purchase payments

4. a ticket issued to facilitate rationing

5. a detachable entry form for any of certain competitions, esp football pools

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Pronunciation

Coupon, related to cope and coup, is of French origin. It has developed an American pronunciation variant with an unhistorical y -sound not justified by the spelling. This pronunciation is used by educated speakers and is well-established as perfectly standard, although it is sometimes criticized. Its development may have been encouraged by analogy with words like curious, cupid, and cute, where c is followed by a “long u ” and the is mandatory.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• couponless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• coupons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of coupon

1815–25; < French; Old French colpon piece cut off, equivalent to colp(er) to cut ( see cope ¹) + -on noun suffix

Explanation

A coupon is a certificate or a voucher that lets you buy something at a discounted price. When you hand the cashier your coupon, he will subtract some amount from your total bill. You can cut coupons out of a newspaper, get them in the mail, or find them online. A restaurant coupon might offer a free beverage when you buy dinner, and a grocery store coupon could give you a five dollar savings on your dog's favorite kind of kibble. The original coupons were used by Coca Cola in the late 1800s — they were vouchers for a free Coke, and they're credited with spreading the soft drink's popularity across the United States.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

coupon coupons

The new buyback targets nominal coupon securities with maturities of 10 years or longer and will run from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

The pair was originally $125, but, thanks to a sale on the store’s website and the coupon, I got both for $21, meaning I saved $104 total.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

Nominal coupon auction and inflation-protected Treasurys—or TIPS—auction sizes are expected to be left unchanged this quarter, implying net bill supply of $534 billion for 3Q, the analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

They will increase borrowing costs for the countries that adopt them because creditors will seek compensation for accepting a higher risk of not receiving coupon payments.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

She took Wednesday’s forty-five dollars and insisted on writing him out a receipt for it in wide, looping handwriting, on the back of an expired soft-drink coupon.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

This year, however, I gave it a chance and found that the coupons inside could actually be useful.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

The problem is that if the Fed lets underlying inflation rise, this will end up hurting longer-term bonds, because the real inflation-adjusted value of future coupons will fall.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026

Yet tucked away in a closet of her Redding, Mass., home are 125 expired coupons for 20% off at a store that’s been closed for years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

To the delight of die-hard fans and coupon collectors, for a limited time the new stores will accept the chain’s blue and white coupons, no matter how old they are.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

They learned where the cheapest gas station was—at the corner of Lomond and Lee Roads, always one cent less than anywhere else; where the drugstores were and which gave double coupons.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Related Words

• advertisement
• card
• certificate
• voucher