# sofa
## 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: /ˈsəʊfə/
* (General American) enPR: sō'fə, IPA: /ˈsoʊfə/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊfə

#### Noun

sofa (plural sofas)
* (Middle East architecture, archaic) A raised area of a building's floor, usually covered with carpeting, used for sitting.
* (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
** 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 228: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.

##### Derived terms

* cornucopia sofa
* moving sofa problem
* ofa sleeper
* sofa-bed
* sofa-bedstead
* sofa constant
* sofa king
* sofa painting
* sofa problem
* sofa set
* sofa-sleeper
* sofa spud
* sofa surf
* sofa surfer
* sofa surfing

##### Descendants

* → Assamese: চোফা (süpha)
* → Burmese: ဆိုဖာ (hcuihpa)
* → Cantonese: 梳化 (so$^1$ faa$^{3-2}$)
* → Hindi: सोफ़ा (sofā)
* → Japanese: ソファ (sofa)
* → Kashubian: zofa
* → Korean: 소파 (sopa) (Canada)
* → Norman: sofa
* → Penang Hokkien: sofa
* → Swahili: sofa
* → Thai: โซฟา (soo-faa)
* → Urdu: صوفہ (sofā)
* → Welsh: soffa
* → Wu: 沙發 / 沙发 ($^1$so-faq)
** → Mandarin: 沙發 / 沙发 (shāfā)
*** → Lü: ᦌᦱᧈᦝᦱᧉ (saa¹faa²)
*** → Mongolian: шафа (šafa), ᠱᠠᠹᠠ (šafa)
*** → Uyghur: سافا (safa)
*** → Wutunhua: shafa
*** → Zhuang: sahfaz

##### See also

* love seat

#### Verb

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

sofa (plural sofas)
* (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

* OFAs, as of, oafs

## Danish
### Noun

sofa c (singular definite sofaen, plural indefinite sofaer)
* sofa, couch, divan, settee

#### Inflection
## Dutch
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

sofa m (plural sofa's, diminutive sofaatje n)
* (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: /sɔ.fa/
* (Canada) IPA: /so.fa/; /so.fɔ/
* Audio (France):(file)
* Rhymes: -a
* Homophone: sofas

### Noun

sofa m (plural sofas)
* couch; sofa
    Synonym: canapé

#### Descendants

* → Asturian: sofá
* → Catalan: sofà
* → Czech: sofà
* → Danish: sofa
* → Dutch: sofa
** Indonesian: sofa
* → English: sofa (see there for further descendants)
* → Galician: sofá
* → German: Sofa
** → Estonian: sohva
** → Kashubian: zófa
* → Hungarian: szófa
* → Hunsrik: Sofa
* → Icelandic: sófi
* → Italian: sofà
* → Lithuanian: sofa
* → Northern Sami: suffá
* → Norwegian: sofa
* → Plautdietsch: Soofa
* → Polish: sofa
* → Portuguese: sofá
* → Romanian: sofa
* → Russian: софа (sofa)
** → Veps: sofa
* → Serbo-Croatian: sofa / софа
* → Spanish: sofá
* → Swedish: soffa
** → Finnish: sohva
*** → Ingrian: sohva
* → Uzbek: sofa
* → Yiddish: סאָפֿע (sofe)

### 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: /ˈsɔːva/
* Rhymes: -ɔːva

### Verb

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

* fara að sofa (“to go to bed”)
* sofa hjá (“to sleep with, to have sex with”)
* sofa laust (“to sleep lightly”)
* sofa yfir sig (“to oversleep”)
* sofandi (“sleeping”)

#### 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

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /ˈsofa/ [ˈso.fa]
* Rhymes: -ofa
* Syllabification: so‧fa

### Noun

sofa (uncountable)
* 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
* bantal sofa

### 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)
* (item of furniture) sofa

## Jamaican Creole
### Etymology

Derived from English suffer.

### Verb

sofa
* 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

* sofarieshan

## Japanese
### Romanization

sofa
* 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
* sofa, couch

#### Declension
### 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

## Norman
### Etymology

Borrowed from English sofa.

### Noun

sofa m (plural sofas)
* (Jersey, Guernsey) sofa

#### Synonyms

* jontchéthe

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Noun

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

### References

* “sofa” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsuːfɑ/

### Noun

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

#### 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

### Further reading

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

## 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: /ˈsɔ.fa/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔfa
* Syllabification: so‧fa

### Noun

sofa f (diminutive sofka)
* 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)
* sofa

#### Declension
## Serbo-Croatian
### Noun

sòfa f (Cyrillic spelling со̀фа)
* (Serbia) sofa
    Synonym: kauč (Croatia)

#### See also

* divan

## Swahili
### Etymology

Borrowed from English sofa.

### Pronunciation

* Audio (Kenya):(file)

### Noun

sofa class IX (plural sofa class X)
* 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: /soˈfa/
* Hyphenation: so‧fa

### Noun

sofa (definite accusative sofayı, plural sofalar)
* An area in the house where all rooms open into; hall, hallway.
    Synonyms: hol, salon

#### Derived terms

* nohut oda, bakla sofa

#### Related terms

* misafir odası
* mutfak
* oda
* oturma odası
* yatak odası

### References

* ↑ Redhouse, James W. (1890) “صفه”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1179
* ↑ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “sofa”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

### 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
* sofa

#### Inflection
### References

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