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US /sɝf/ UK /sɜːf/
Homophones
Freq #6920

Meanings

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Thesaurus

Forms surfedsurfs
Derived forms bodysurfcar-surfchannel-surfcountersurfcrowdsurfcybersurfnetsurfparasurfsurfboardsurfboardersurfersurfing

Common collocations

Etymology

Probably from earlier suff, suffe (“the inrush of the sea towards the shore”), possibly from Middle English suffe. Compare sough, surf (“a gutter, drain, sewer, trench”) and sough (“a soothing, gentle, murmuring sound of wind or water”). Alternatively, possibly of Indo-Aryan origin, as the word was formerly a reference to the coast of India, though this is doubtful as no positive etymon can be identified. The verb is from 1917. The verb referring to "browsing the Internet" was popularized by Jean Armour Polly.

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