Coop

Coop is a shortened form of cooperative or coop, and can also refer to a chicken coop or to confine. It has several distinct meanings in everyday language.

A chicken coop is a small shelter for domestic fowl, typically made of wood or wire mesh and often equipped with a run, nesting boxes, roosts, and ventilation. It protects birds from predators and weather and allows for safe egg collection and care.

As a noun relating to a cooperative, a coop describes a member-owned and democratically controlled enterprise that operates to meet members’ economic, social, or cultural needs. Common forms include consumer co-ops (retail outlets owned by customers), worker co-ops (employee-owned businesses), housing co-ops (owned or managed by residents), and agricultural co-ops (farmers pooling resources). Profits or savings are usually distributed among members or reinvested in the enterprise, and governance is typically one member, one vote, regardless of capital contribution. Co-ops often adhere to the Rochdale Principles, established in the 1840s, which emphasize voluntary and open membership, democratic control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education and information, cooperation among co-ops, and concern for the community.

As a verb, to coop means to confine or restrain, as in to coop up someone or something. This usage is common in phrases such as “cooped up indoors.”

Cooperative models have a global footprint across industries and sizes, from local food co-ops to large worker-owned firms, and they operate under various legal forms and regulatory frameworks in different countries.