cup

n.
/kʌp/USfirst attested · Old English

Etymology

A common Germanic borrowing from Late Latin cuppa ('drinking vessel'), itself a variant of classical cūpa ('tub, cask') — the same root that gives us cooper, the cask-maker. From household object to liturgical chalice to the Watts dictionary game, the word has carried the weight of metaphor as easily as liquid.

  1. *keup- — “a hollow, a cavity
  2. borrowed as cuppa — “drinking vessel
  3. cuppe — “cup

Definitions

  1. a small open container for drinking

    A handheld vessel, usually with a handle, designed to hold liquid for drinking.

  2. a unit of measure (~240 ml in US cooking)

    A standard volumetric unit in domestic cooking, equal to half a US pint.

The neighborhood

Derived

cooper

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at cup. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01cup02drink03water04river05fish06food07table08dish

From the cup we drink — from drink we name water, the substance — from water we trace the river, the path — from the river we draw the fish, what swims there — from fish we get food, what we live on — from food we set the table — on the table we lay the dish — and in the dish, again, a cup. Each word leans on the next; the dictionary, asked enough times, hands you back where you started.

8 hops · closes at cup

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.