Meaning & use
cup
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small container with a handle, used for drinking hot drinks like tea or coffee.
Grammar: Countable: one cup, two cups. Often used with 'of' to talk about the drink itself: a cup of tea.
Patterns
- a cup of something
- drink from a cup
She poured herself a cup of coffee.
He drank the hot tea from a blue cup.
Could you pass me a cup for the soup?
nouncountableAmerican
A unit of measurement used in cooking, equal to about 240 milliliters.
Grammar: Countable: add one cup of flour, two cups of milk.
Patterns
- a cup of flour/sugar
- half a cup of something
The recipe calls for two cups of flour.
Add half a cup of sugar to the mixture.
Mix one cup of rice with two cups of water.
nouncountablesport
A trophy shaped like a cup, given to the winner of a sports competition; also the competition itself.
Grammar: Often capitalized when part of a name: the World Cup, the FA Cup.
Patterns
- win the cup
- the World Cup
Our team won the cup last year.
The World Cup is held every four years.
They lifted the cup after a thrilling final.
nouncountable
A rounded, hollow shape or part, such as a bra cup or the cup of a flower.
Grammar: Countable: a B cup, the cup of a tulip.
Patterns
- a B cup
- the cup of a flower
She wears a size B cup.
The cup of the flower was bright yellow.
The acorn sits in a small cup.
verbtransitive
To hold something in your hands in a curved shape, like a cup.
Grammar: Takes an object: cup your hands, cup your ear.
Patterns
- cup your hands
- cup something in your hands
He cupped his hands around the match to light it.
She cupped her ear to hear better.
He cupped the small bird gently in his palms.
Word forms
| plural | cups |
|---|---|
| third person singular | cups |
| past tense | cupped |
| past participle | cupped |
| present participle | cupping |
Common combinations
- a cup of tea
- Would you like a cup of tea?
- win the cup
- They hope to win the cup this season.
- cup your hands
- She cupped her hands to catch the water.
- paper cup
- He drank from a paper cup.
- cup final
- The cup final will be played on Saturday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mug
- A mug is a large, heavy cup, often used for coffee or beer; a cup is smaller and usually for tea or coffee.
- glass
- A glass is made of glass and has no handle, used for cold drinks; a cup is usually ceramic and has a handle.
- trophy
- A trophy is a general word for a prize, while a cup is specifically a cup-shaped trophy or the competition itself.
Word family
- cupful noun
- The amount that a cup can hold.
- cupping noun
- A treatment that uses heated cups on the skin.
Commonly confused: cup or glass?
cup vs glass
A glass is for cold drinks and has no handle; a cup is for hot drinks and usually has a handle.
Practice
She poured ___ of coffee and sat down.
Choose one answer.
'A cup of' is the correct phrase for a cup containing coffee. 'A cup' alone would need 'a cup of coffee' to be complete; 'a glass' is for cold drinks; 'a mug of' is possible but less common for coffee in this context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cup”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.