zope

English

The zope

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from dialectal German Zope (French sope), probably from Slavic (compare Russian сапа́ (sapá)).

Noun

zope (plural zopes)

1. A fish of species Ballerus ballerus (syn. Abramis ballerus) native to Eurasia.
   • 1969, Problems of Ichthyology, American Fisheries Society, pages 390–391:

     The absolute fecundity of zopes on first maturing (at the age of 5 years) was less than that of those spawning for the second time. […] On comparison of the fecundity of zopes of the same size and different age the data obtained proved contradictory to some extent.

   • 1974, B.S. Kuzin, editor, Biological and Hydrological Factors of Local Movements of Fish in Reservoirs, New Delhi: Amerind Publishing Co., page 300:

     Before catching, more than half zopes, sandres and perches feed actively.

Synonyms

• blue bream

Translations

fish

• Estonian: abakala (et)
• Finnish: sulkava (fi)
• French: brème bleue (fr)
• German: Zope (de), Spitzpleinzen
• Italian: abramide medio, zope
• Pannonian Rusyn: балїнт m (baljint)
• Polish: rozpiór m, siniec (pl) m
• Russian: сине́ц (ru) m (sinéc)
• Swedish: faren (sv)

Further reading

• Ballerus ballerus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ballerus ballerus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Ballerus ballerus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• poze

Dutch

Verb

zope

1. (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of zuipen

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Classical Nahuatl tzopīlōtlbor.

Spanish zopiloteclip.

Spanish zope

Clipping of zopilote. The adjective is likely influenced by zopenco (“idiot”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθope/ [ˈθo.pe] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈsope/ [ˈso.pe] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ope
• Syllabification: zo‧pe

Adjective

zope m or f (masculine and feminine plural zopes)

1. (colloquial, Mexico) idiotic, stupid

Noun

zope m (plural zopes)

1. (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua) synonym of zopilote (“zopilote”)
2. (Guatemala, El Salvador) vomit

Further reading

• “zope”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “zope”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010