sofa

A1 Topic:House & Home

US /ˈsoʊ̯fə/ UK /ˈsəʊ̯fə/ See IPA manual

Freq #6105

Meanings

1

noun
A long, comfortable seat with a back and arms for two or more people.

We curled up on the sofa to watch a film.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a long, comfortable seat... couch settee

Word family

Forms sofas

Derived forms sofa-bedsofa-bedsteadsofa-sleepersofafulsofalesssofalike

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

sofa bed
a sofa that can be opened or converted into a bed

Noun + noun

Etymology

Borrowed from French sofa, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick, covered with rich carpets and cushions and used for sitting”). Cognate with Aramaic צפא/Classical Syriac ܨܦܬܐ (ṣipā’, ṣeppəṯā, “mat, matting”). The word may have entered European languages via Muslim Iberia or through Turkish.

sofa French صُفَّة Arabic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

House & Home

External links

# sofa

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsoʊ̯fə/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsəʊ̯fə/
**Frequency rank:** 6105

## Meanings
1. A long, comfortable seat with a back and arms for two or more people.

## Examples
- We curled up on the sofa to watch a film.

## Derived Forms
- sofa-bed
- sofa-bedstead
- sofa-sleeper
- sofaful
- sofaless
- sofalike

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sofa
- Root: صُفَّة

## Etymology
Borrowed from French sofa, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick, covered with rich carpets and cushions and used for sitting”). Cognate with Aramaic צפא/Classical Syriac ܨܦܬܐ (ṣipā’, ṣeppəṯā, “mat, matting”). The word may have entered European languages via Muslim Iberia or through Turkish.

## AI Etymology
Sofa is borrowed from French sofa, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick, covered with rich carpets and cushions and used for sitting”). Cognate with Aramaic צפא/Classical Syriac ܨܦܬܐ (ṣipā’, ṣeppəṯā, “mat, matting”). The word may have entered European languages via Muslim Iberia or through Turkish. Important forms in the word's history include French sofa, Arabic صُفَّة. In current use it includes the sense A long, comfortable seat with a back and arms for two or more people.

## Topics
- House & Home

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