Copt
/kɒpt
/noun
1A native Egyptian in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.When Muslim armies invaded Egypt, they were welcomed by the Egyptian Copts as liberators from Byzantine oppression....
- Outnumbered by the native Copts, they settled just north of the Christian town, within the area of modern Cairo, and dreamed of building a new Islamic city.
- Moreover, ethnically differentiated people have been lumped together, for example, the Copts and the Berbers are not ethnically the same people.
2A member of the Coptic Church.On the eve of both Christmas day and Easter day, Orthodox Copts break their fast with a variety of dishes made of beef and poultry....
- The Copts, an indigenous Monophysite Christian church, are the largest and most important minority, some 12% of the population.
- Aswan was once an important centre for Christian Copts.
Origin
From French Copte or modern Latin Coptus, from Arabic al-qibṭ, al-qubṭ 'Copts', from Coptic Gyptios, from Greek Aiguptios 'Egyptian'.