Cuppefulle

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quantity that a cup holds when filled to its brim, used as a measure of volume
2. An amount of liquid or dry goods equal to what fills a single drinking vessel
3. As much as a cup can contain, a measure of volume in old English cookery and recipes

Etymology: "Cuppefulle" is a Middle English spelling of "cupful," the amount a cup holds. It is a compound of "cup" and "-ful," the suffix that turns a noun into a measure of how much that noun holds. "Cup" came into English from Old English "cuppe," which was borrowed early from late Latin "cuppa," a drinking vessel. The suffix "-ful" is native English, descended from Old English "full," meaning full, and it has been attached to nouns for a long time to name a quantity, as in "spoonful" or "handful." The spelling with a doubled "p" and a final "e" reflects how Middle English scribes wrote the word before spelling settled in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The modern form "cupful" came to be written with a single "p" and no final "e," though the sense has not changed: a cup's worth of whatever it contains.