Coup d’état

A coup d'état (/ˌkuː deɪˈtɑː/  listen ; French: [ku deta]), sometimes translated as "blow of state" or "hit of state", but the literal translation is "stroke of the state" – as in the swiping or stroke of a sword; plural: coups d'état, (pronounced like the singular form), also known simply as a coup (/kuː/), putsch, or an overthrow, is the illegal and overt seizure of a state by the military or other elites within the state apparatus.

The phrase coup d'état (French pronunciation: ​[ku deta]) is French, literally meaning a "stroke of state" or "blow against the state". In French the word "État", denoting a sovereign political entity, is capitalized.

Although the coup d'état has featured in politics since antiquity, the phrase is of relatively recent coinage; the Oxford English Dictionary identifies it as a French expression meaning a "stroke of state". The phrase did not appear within an English text before the nineteenth century except when used in translation of a French source, there being no simple phrase in English to convey the contextualized idea of a "knockout blow to the existing administration within a state".

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