Cooper (profession)

A cooper readies the end of a barrel at the Van Ryn Brandy Cellar near Stellenbosch, South Africa

Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden barrels, casks, buckets and other similar wooden objects. The word is derived from cupa, the Latin word for vat. Cask making is referred to as cooperage. A barrel is technically a measure of the size of a cask, so the term "barrel-maker" cannot be used synonomously with "cooper" as it is incorrect. In addition, the facility in which casks are made is referred to as a cooperage.

Sometimes—in more modern times—the profession of the cooper is specific to wineries, where the cooper would look after the aging barrels in which the wine is stored.

While plastic containers have replaced most wooden containers and obsoleted the cooper, there is still demand for high quality wooden barrels, and it is thought that the highest quality ones are hand-made by professional coopers.

Sometimes, rarely today, coffin-makers are known as coopers.