sofa
/ˈsoʊ̯fə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.81 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An upholstered seat with a raised back and one or two raised ends, long enough to comfortably accommodate two or more people.
verb
To seat or lay down on a sofa.
name
Acronym of Standards of Fundamental Astronomy.
name
Example Sentences
- "He bought a big sofa two days before his relatives arrived."
- "His eyes trailed over her feline pose on the sofa, finding her limbs adorable while he tried exasperatedly to extract the truth of licentious revelations from them."
- "I can make money from the comfort of my sofa / So much drive, now I gotta get a chauffeur"
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
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.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: sofa, صُفَّة
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsoʊ̯fə/
- British English: /ˈsəʊ̯fə/