sofa

English Online Dictionary. What means sofa‎? What does sofa mean?

English

Etymology 1

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.

Alternative forms

• sopha (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sō'fə, IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊfə/
• (General American) enPR: sō'fə, IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊfə/
• Rhymes: -əʊfə

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

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• love seat

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.
2. To seat or lay down on a sofa.

References

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

Etymology 2

Noun

sofa (plural sofas)

1. (historical) A slave soldier who served in the army of the Mali Empire.

Anagrams

• OFAs, as of, oafs

Danish

Noun

sofa c (singular definite sofaen, plural indefinite sofaer)

1. sofa, couch, divan, settee

Inflection

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsoː.faː/
• 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

• (France) IPA^(key): /sɔ.fa/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /so.fa/; /so.fɔ/
• Rhymes: -a
• Homophone: sofas

Noun

sofa m (plural sofas)

1. couch; sofa

   Synonym: canapé

Descendants

Further reading

• “sofa”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Icelandic

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔːva/
• Rhymes: -ɔːva

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) to sleep

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

Related terms

• sofna
• syfja

Indonesian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsofa/
• Hyphenation: so‧fa

Noun

sofa (first-person possessive sofaku, second-person possessive sofamu, third-person possessive sofanya)

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

Further reading

• “sofa” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

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

Derived terms

• sofarieshan

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

References

• “sofa”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2024
• “sofa”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2024

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English sofa.

Noun

sofa m (plural sofas)

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) sofa

Synonyms

• jontchéthe

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

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

1. sofa, couch

References

• “sofa” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsuːfɑ/

Noun

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

1. a sofa or couch

References

• “sofa” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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

Conjugation

Related terms

• sofna
• svefn

Descendants

• Icelandic: sofa
• Faroese: sova
• Norwegian Nynorsk: sova, sove
• Jamtish: sovo
• Elfdalian: såvå
• Old Swedish: sova
  • Swedish: sova
• Old Danish: souæ
  • Danish: sove
    • Norwegian Bokmål: sove
  • Scanian: søva
• Gutnish: syve

References

• “sofa”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Polish

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/
• Rhymes: -ɔfa
• Syllabification: so‧fa

Noun

sofa f (diminutive sofka)

1. sofa, couch

Declension

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

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

sòfa f (Cyrillic spelling со̀фа)

1. (Serbia) sofa

Declension

See also

• divan

Swahili

Etymology

Borrowed from English sofa.

Pronunciation

Noun

sofa (n class, plural sofa)

1. sofa

Turkish

Etymology

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish صفه (ṣuffa, ṣofa, “a porch or hall with benches, a recess in a hall or ante-room”), from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “bench, sofa, vestibule”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /soˈfa/
• Hyphenation: so‧fa

Noun

sofa (definite accusative sofayı, plural sofalar)

1. An area in the house where all rooms open into; hall, hallway.

   Synonyms: hol, salon

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

References

Further reading

• “sofa”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “sofa¹”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4277

Veps

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian софа́ (sofá).

Noun

sofa

1. sofa

Inflection

References

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “тахта”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[2], Petrozavodsk: Periodika