A coupé (/coo-pay/, or US coupe, /coop/) (from the French past participle coupé, of the infinitive couper, to cut) is a car with the body style two doors and fixed roof, that is shorter than a sedan or saloon (British and Irish English) of the same model, It may or may not have back seating for two persons, which may or may not be tight-spaced. The precise definition of the term varies between manufacturers and over time. The term was first applied to 19th-century carriages, where the rear-facing seats had been eliminated, or cut out.
In most English-speaking countries, the French spelling coupé and anglicized pronunciation /kuːˈpeɪ/ koo-PAY are used. The stress may be equal or on either the first or second syllable; stressing the first syllable is the more anglicized variant. Most speakers of North American English spell the word without the acute accent and pronounce it as one syllable: /ˈkuːp/ KOOP. This change occurred gradually and before World War II. A North American example of usage is the hot rodders' term Deuce Coupe (DEWS KOOP) used to refer to a 1932 Ford; this pronunciation is used in the Beach Boys' 1963 hit song, "Little Deuce Coupe".