Cup

A cup is a small vessel for drinking liquids, usually shaped like a flattened hemisphere with an open top. Its capacity typically ranges from about 6 to 16 US fluid ounces (177 to 473 ml). Cups can be made from many materials, including pottery (such as porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, polystyrene, plastic, or lacquerware. Unlike jugs and other drinkware, a cup is normally brought to the mouth for drinking, though a straw or lid may also be used. Many cups have handles, but many do not—beakers lack both a handle and a stem, and small bowl-like shapes are common in Asia.

Different cultures have specific terms for various cup types, often based on the drink they are used for or the material they are made from. In modern English, glass cups are usually called "glasses." Different styles of cups may be used for different liquids or foods (like teacups and measuring cups), in different settings (such as water stations or ceremonies), or simply as decoration.

The history of cups stretches back well into prehistory, where they first appeared as handleless beakers or bowls. Cups have been found across most cultures worldwide, in a wide range of shapes and materials. While simple cups were widespread, high-status cups made from expensive materials have served as important status symbols since at least the Bronze Age, and many have been discovered in burials.

Modern household cups generally lack a stem, but this was not always the case. Large metal standing cups or covered cups—with a base, stem, and often a lid—were prestigious items in medieval households that could afford them, used as "welcome cups" or for toasts. This form survives today in sporting trophies and church chalices. The 15th-century silver Lacock Cup is a rare surviving English secular example. Such cups were offered by cup-bearers, a role historically important in royal courts.

The English word "cup" has meant a drinking vessel since at least 1000 AD. Its definition is flexible, especially in specialist fields like archaeology, where it is broader than in everyday speech. For instance, Anna Wierzbicka (1984) noted that in the 1970s, the "older generation" expected a cup to be made of porcelain and have both a handle and a saucer, so a plastic cup without these features was not a "real cup." The "younger generation" made no such distinction, using "coffee cup" or "teacup" for traditional ones. Twelve-year-olds had two different cup shapes in mind: one for hot liquids, one for juices.

Names for cup types vary by region and can overlap. In American English, "cups" include "mugs." Any transparent cup, regardless of material, is more likely called a "glass"; a flat-bottomed paper cup is a "paper cup," but a transparent one of similar shape is often called a "tumbler" or another term for glasses. Lexicographer Penelope Stock found that cups, mugs, and glasses are "near-synonyms," though with "sufficient differences" to group them separately.

Wierzbicka and Keith Allan (in "On Cup," 2020) compare definitions. Many languages—including English, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, and German—use separate words for mugs and cups. Wierzbicka suggests this reflects different functionality: traditional cups are designed for drinking while seated at a table, while mugs are meant for use anywhere. This explains several features: the saucer protects the table but is inconvenient away from it; the tapered cup shape accommodates the saucer, while the cylindrical mug does not; a mug’s larger handle allows carrying it when setting it down isn’t possible; thicker mug walls let you cup it with a second hand and reduce breakage during extended handling; sitting at a table implies formality, so cups are more elegant and sold in sets (like tea or coffee services), while mugs are informal and sold individually; and a mug holds more liquid than a cup, since the cup is used near a teapot. To limit the liquid’s exposed surface area and retain heat, mugs are taller, while tapered cups are lower for stability.

Cups have been used since the Stone Age and found at archaeological sites worldwide. Many of the earliest cups come from burials, possibly holding offerings or supplies for the afterlife. Cups are not prominent in the earliest pottery from most areas, which was thick and heavy, as were carved stone vessels from early cultures. Cups made from organic materials—wood, bamboo, dried gourds—were probably common but have since decomposed. Large shells and birds’ eggs have been used in some regions almost to the present. Very simple, single-use *kulhar* cups made from unglazed terracotta (and sometimes unfired clay) are still used in South Asia, mainly at tea stalls, and closely resemble those found at Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization sites. The Bell Beaker culture, an important archaeological culture, is named after its distinctive inverted-bell pottery beaker cups, marking the start of the European Bronze Age around 2800 BC. The Ringlemere Cup is a solid gold cup with a handle from around 1600 BC, and the Rillaton Gold Cup is one of two such cups.