beaucoup - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

• boku, boocoo, bookoo, buku

Borrowed from French beaucoup, early 20th century. Popularized by American GIs during the Vietnam War.

• IPA^(key): /boʊˈkuː/, /ˈbuːkuː/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Hyphenation: beau‧coup

beaucoup

1. (US, especially Louisiana, informal) Much, many, a lot of.

   You know that cost beaucoup bucks!

   • 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 93:

     Donlon says, "Well, we're rich and we got beaucoup beer and beaucoup chow. Now all we need is the Bob Hope show."

   • 1987 November 2, Michael Halperin, w:Dorothy Catherine Fontana, “Lonely Among Us”, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 1, episode 7, spoken by Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), production code 108:

     Then he'd have to be relieved of command. Which you could do, Doctor, but it's beaucoup trouble if you're wrong.

beaucoup (plural beaucoups)

1. An abundance.

beaucoup (not comparable)

1. In abundance.

• boucoup (Louisiana)

Inherited from Old French biau cop, first attested circa 1210.^[1] Equivalent to beau (“nice, beautiful”) +‎ coup (“hit, strike”). The latter word also means “helping of soup or beverage”, first attested circa 1375, whose sense may have triggered or reinforced beaucoup to mean “a lot”.

• IPA^(key): /bo.ku/
• IPA^(key): /bo.ku/, /bu.ku/ (Louisiana)
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: beau‧coup

beaucoup

1. much, very much, a lot [with de ‘of’]

   Merci beaucoup! ― Thank you very much!

   Je mange beaucoup. ― I eat a lot.

   On connaît beaucoup de gens. ― We know a lot of people.

2. (Louisiana) very

   Synonym: très

   Un beaucoup vieux homme. ― A very old man.

• Louisiana Creole: bokou, boukou
• Mauritian Creole: boukou
• → English: beaucoup, boku, boocoo, bookoo, buku
• → Nigerian Pidgin: boku

• “beaucoup”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.