Cupel
//ˈkjuːpəl// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small circular receptacle used in assaying gold or silver with lead.
- 2 a small porous bowl made of bone ash used in assaying to separate precious metals from e.g. lead wordnet
Verb
- 1 To refine or assay using a cupel.
Etymology
Borrowed from French coupelle, from Medieval Latin cūpella, from Latin cūpa (“cask”) + -ella (“-elle: forming feminine diminutives”). Equivalent to cup + -el.
Related phrases
More for "cupel"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.