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sofa

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "sofa"

English

Etymology 1

 sofa on Wikipedia

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.

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

sofa (plural sofas)

  1. (Middle East architecture, archaic) A raised area of a building's floor, usually covered with carpeting, used for sitting.
  2. (furniture) An upholstered seat with a raised back and one or two raised ends, long enough to comfortably accommodate two or more people.
    Synonyms: couch, lounge, divan, settee
    He bought a big sofa two days before his relatives arrived.
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
See also

Verb

sofa (third-person singular simple present sofas, present participle sofaing, simple past and past participle sofaed)

  1. To furnish with one or more sofas.
    • 1852, Charles Astor Bristed, Five years in an English university, page 14:
      The appearance of a student's apartment, though by no means splendid, is decidedly comfortable ; it is well cushioned and sofaed, with a proper proportion of arm chairs, and a general air of respectability — much better on the whole than our student's rooms ever are.
    • 1890, Stanley Lane-Poole, The Life of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe - Volume 1, page 100:
      First, it will surprize you to learn that instead of the venerable simplicity which reigns in St. Stephen's chapel, the H. of Representatives, besides being stoved, carpeted, desked, and sofaed in the most luxurious style, rivals and indeed surpasses the Legislature of Paris in decoration and drapery.
    • 1893, Henry Swinglehurst, Silver Mines and Incidents of Travel, page 97:
      I and another therefore entirely occupied our stateroom, which was sofaed round, being just large enough for two to lie down and a third to sit with his feet up and his head on his knees.
    • 1981, David A. Kaufelt, The Wine and the Music, page 331:
      It was a lavish, fully draped, fully sofaed, fully radiator-covered nineteenth-century deluxe German hotel suite.
  2. To seat or lay down on a sofa.
    • 1895, Denver Medical Times - Volume 5, page 191:
      Cliques of three or more are formed, each member of which goes in search of victims, and the first female found complaining of pain in the lower part of her back, is immediately run down, corralled, cornered, so to speak, and sans ceremonie she is at once tabled, sofaed or beded, or in the absence of these relics of refinement she is floored or she may have to submit standing (especially if the doctor is in a hury and meets her at the gate or corner drug store) with an unerring plunge, of a not overly clean index finger, the darksome cavern is penetrated and perhaps, not, a cervix is touched and reveals, of course, a lacerated cervix, just as had been predicted.
    • 1880 October 22, Benjamin Disraeli, chapter XVI, in George Earle Buckle, editor, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, volume VI: 1876–1881, published 1929, Hughenden Manor; To Lady Bradford, page 592:
      A few, feeble words—my first—to tell you I have left my room this morning and am shaven and shorn and dressed and sofaed in my writing room, after a terrible ten days or more.
    • 2006, Kim Akass, Janet McCabe, Reading 'Desperate Housewives': Beyond the White Picket Fence:
      Many a time back in my boozing days when I was sofaed too.

References

  • "sofa, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Etymology 2

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Noun

sofa (plural sofas)

  1. (historical) A slave soldier who served in the army of the Mali Empire.
    • 2006, Magbaily C. Fyle, Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone, page xx:
      1884 Sofas conquer northern Sierra Leone. The sofas were soldiers of Mandinka empire builder, Samori Turay. Falaba, capital of Solima Yalunka kingdom, destroyed in the process.

Anagrams

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Chinese

Etymology

From English sofa.

Pronunciation

Noun

sofa

  1. (Penang Hokkien) sofa

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 沙發 (“sofa; couch”) [map]
More information Variety, Location ...
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Danish

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology

From French sofa, via Turkish sofa, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa).

Noun

sofa c (singular definite sofaen, plural indefinite sofaer)

  1. sofa, couch, divan, settee

Declension

More information common gender, singular ...

Derived terms

  • chesterfieldsofa
  • gyngesofa
  • hjørnesofa
  • lædersofa
  • plyssofa
  • sofaarrangement
  • sofabord
  • sofagruppe
  • sofaryg
  • sofasæde
  • sovesofa

See also

References

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French sofa, perhaps via Turkish sofa, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsoː.faː/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: so‧fa

Noun

sofa m (plural sofa's, diminutive sofaatje n)

  1. (chiefly Belgium) a couch, a sofa
    Synonyms: bank, zitbank

French

Etymology

    Ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick”), from Aramaic צפא (ṣipā’, “mat”)/Classical Syriac ܨܦܬܐ. The word may have entered French via Turkish sofa.

    Note casually that Arabic itself uses كَنَبة (kanaba) for “sofa”, from French canapé.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    sofa m (plural sofas)

    1. couch; sofa
      Synonym: canapé

    Descendants

    Further reading

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    Icelandic

    Etymology

    From Old Norse sofa, from Proto-Germanic *swefaną.

    Pronunciation

    Verb

    sofa (strong verb, third-person singular past indicative svaf, third-person plural past indicative sváfum, supine sofið)

    1. (intransitive) to sleep
      Ekki vekja hana, hún er sofandi.
      Don't wake her up, she's sleeping.

    Conjugation

    This verb needs an inflection-table template.

    Derived terms

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    Indonesian

    Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia id

    Etymology

    From Dutch sofa, from French sofa, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick”).

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    sofa (plural sofa-sofa)

    1. sofa: an upholstered seat with a raised back and one or two raised ends, long enough to comfortably accommodate two or more people

    Derived terms

    • sofa bulir
    • sofa dua dudukan
    • sofa huruf L
    • sofa L
    • sofa lipat
    • sofa ranjang
    • sofa satu dudukan
    • sofa tidur
    • sofa tiga dudukan

    Further reading

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    Interlingua

    Noun

    sofa (plural sofas)

    1. (item of furniture) sofa

    Jamaican Creole

    Etymology

    Derived from English suffer.

    Verb

    sofa

    1. to suffer, to be troubled, to be distressed
      • 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, 2 Korintiyan 1:6:
        So ef wi sofa, wi a sofa kaaz wi waahn fi elp unu an wi waahn unu fi kip chrang. An ef wi get elp, unu wuda a get elp tu. Kaaz unu wi nuo se wen unu a sofa laik wi, fi unu elp wi kom. An dat wi mek unu gwaan kip chrang wen chobl tek unu.
        If we are in distress, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are being comforted, it is for your comfort, which results in you patiently bearing the same sufferings that we suffer.

    Derived terms

    Japanese

    Romanization

    sofa

    1. Rōmaji transcription of ソファ

    Lithuanian

    Etymology

    Borrowed from French sofa or Italian sofà, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick”). Compare Russian софа́ (sofá).

    Noun

    sofà f (plural sòfos) stress pattern 2

    1. sofa, couch

    Declension

    More information singular (vienaskaita), plural (daugiskaita) ...

    References

    • “sofa”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2025
    • “sofa”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2025
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    Norman

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English sofa.

    Noun

    sofa m (plural sofas)

    1. (Jersey, Guernsey) sofa

    Synonyms

    Norwegian Bokmål

    Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia nb

    Noun

    sofa m (definite singular sofaen, indefinite plural sofaer, definite plural sofaene)

    1. sofa, couch

    References

    Norwegian Nynorsk

    Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia nn

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    sofa m (definite singular sofaen, indefinite plural sofaer or sofaar, definite plural sofaene or sofaane)

    1. a sofa or couch

    References

    Old Norse

    Etymology

    From Proto-Germanic *swefaną.

    Verb

    sofa (singular present indicative sefr or søfr, singular past indicative svaf, plural past indicative sváfu or sófu, past participle sofinn)

    1. to sleep

    Usage notes

    • This verb (like vaka) takes an adjective in the masculine accusative singular as an adverb, presumably modifying the noun svefn, for instance
      sǿtan sofa
      sleep sweetly
      (literally, “sleep a sweet [sleep]”)

    Conjugation

    More information infinitive, present participle ...

    Descendants

    Further reading

    • Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “sofa”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

    Polish

    Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia pl

    Etymology

    Borrowed from French sofa, from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick”), from Aramaic צפא (ṣipā’, “mat”).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈsɔ.fa/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Rhymes: -ɔfa
    • Syllabification: so‧fa

    Noun

    sofa f (diminutive sofka)

    1. sofa, couch

    Declension

    Declension of sofa
    More information singular, plural ...

    Further reading

    • sofa in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
    • sofa in Polish dictionaries at PWN

    Romanian

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish [script needed] (sofa), from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick”), from Aramaic צפא (ṣipā’, “mat”).

    Noun

    sofa f (plural sofale)

    1. sofa

    Declension

    More information singular, plural ...

    Serbo-Croatian

    Noun

    sòfa f (Cyrillic spelling со̀фа)

    1. (Serbia) sofa
      Synonym: kauč (Croatia)

    Declension

    More information singular, plural ...

    See also

    Swahili

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English sofa.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    sofa class IX (plural sofa class X)

    1. sofa

    Turkish

    Veps

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