coupist

/ˈkuːɪst/

Etymology

From coup + -ist.

Why this word is great

COUPIST — [Noun] One who takes part in or supports a coup d'état. From coup (short for coup d'état, from French coup, "blow, strike") + -ist (agent noun suffix). Unlike "insurrectionist" (which broadly denotes any participant in a violent uprising) or "revolutionary" (which suggests a systemic ideological movement), a coupist is a pragmatist of power, seizing the machinery of state with surgical precision, often under cover of night. It is the polished boot on the palace stair, the radio broadcast abruptly switching to martial music, the midnight phone call that ends with a cabinet minister vanishing—all executed with the cold precision of a chess player who knows the board belongs to him by dawn. The coupist understands that history is not made by crowds, but by the few who know where the levers are hidden.

noun

  1. One who takes part in a coup d'état.“Our first stage was Cheragas; and, after passing the Trappist establishment at Staouëli, where the French fought their first battle, and Sidi-Ferruch, where they landed, we again changed horses at Douaouda. Here we deposited our fellow-coupist.”