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kopje. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
kopje, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
kopje in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From (South African) Dutch kopje, diminutive of kop (“head”).
Pronunciation
Noun
kopje (plural kopjes)
- (South Africa) A small hill or mound, especially on the African veld.
1883 June, Ralph Iron [pseudonym; Olive Schreiner], “Shadows from Child-life. The Watch.”, in The Story of an African Farm, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: H. M. Caldwell Company, →OCLC, part I, page 9:In one spot only was the solemn monotony of the plain broken. Near the center a small solitary “kopje” rose. Alone it lay there, a heap of round ironstones piled one upon the other, as over some giant’s grave.
1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 8:Martha looked over a mile or so of bush to a strip of pink ploughed land; […] and then, ridge after ridge, fold after fold, the bush stretched to a line of blue kopjes.
1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage, published 2000, page 72:On the koppie behind the village, the unsightly red-and-white skeleton of an FM tower.
References
- Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition (1997)
Afrikaans
Pronunciation
Noun
kopje (plural kopjes)
- (archaic) Alternative form of koppie
Dutch
Pronunciation
Noun
kopje n (plural kopjes)
- Diminutive of kop
- (of cats) an act of rubbing one's face on someone or something to spread pheromones
Lower Sorbian
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *kopьje. Cognate with Upper Sorbian kopjo.
Pronunciation
Noun
kopje n inan (diminutive kopjecko)
- spear, javelin, lance, pike
Inflection
Further reading
- Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “koṕe”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
- Starosta, Manfred (1999) “kopje”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
Slovene
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *kopьje.
Pronunciation
Noun
kọ́pje n
- javelin
Inflection
Further reading
- “kopje”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran