A car with two doors and a roof that slopes down to the back. Lower, sleeker, less room in the seats behind — a coupé is what you buy when you care more about the shape than about carrying your family.

The pronunciation splits by country, and it splits sharply. In Britain and most of Europe, two syllables: KOO-pay. In America, one: KOOP, rhyming with soup, and often written without the accent — coupe. Both are correct where they are said. If you learned British English, KOO-pay is your form.

Car companies have stretched this word out of shape in recent years. There are now "four-door coupés" and "coupé SUVs," which by the old definition is nonsense — four doors and a coupé are opposites. But marketing won. Now coupé mostly signals "sloping roof, sporty look" and the door count is negotiable. Older drivers still find this irritating.

Compare with sedan (American) or saloon (British), the ordinary four-door family car — that is the thing a coupé is defined against.