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 longer-dated nominal coupon securities with maturities 10 years or longer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 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

Don’t miss: ‘It feels like a medical miracle’: How did a single QR code coupon cut my $618 Walgreens prescription to $15?

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

This skepticism comes despite MicroStrategy aggressively issuing more than $10 billion of the stock in less than a year, a spree that forced it to hike the coupon seven times to a hefty 11.5%.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

He also holds a coupon for a free ice cream in the cafeteria, and I think how happy Albert would be if I gave that to him.

From "Fish in a Tree" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

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

At the opening of the first stores in Nashville this past fall, staff handed out coupons at the door.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Customers can use their expired coupons until July 13.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

Unwilling to face the loneliness of the airfield’s spartan accommodation, or a dour granite-faced Aberdeen landlady who wouldn’t accept her ration coupons for an unarranged evening meal, Maddie opted for the train.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

Related Words

• advertisement
• card
• certificate
• voucher