Etymologically
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sofa

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsəʊ̯fə/, /ˈsɵʊ̯fə/[1]
  • US: /ˈsoʊ̯fə/, /ˈsɔʊ̯fə/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Turkish sofa,[2][3][4][5] partly through French sofa,[5][6][7][8] from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “bench, ledge, dais, couch”).[5][9][10][3] The OED, revising the entry in 2025, notes that in Ottoman Turkish the word meant a raised part of the floor used for sitting, and later an anteroom, a hall or a couch, and that the French word, recorded in Middle French from 1519, carried it into other European languages.[5] Nişanyan finds the Turkish word in a text of 1377.[11] The AHD traces the Arabic noun to an Aramaic word for a mat,[9] and Skeat connected it with an Arabic root meaning "to draw up in a line".[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Middle East, a raised part of a floor, covered with carpets and cushions, for sitting or reclining: 1625, in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimes.[5][10][13] Etymonline dates it to the 1620s.[2]

Semantic evolution

The European piece of furniture, a long upholstered seat with a back, is first recorded shortly before 1712 in the OED,[5] and in 1717 according to Etymonline and Barnhart.[2][10] Hoad places the first sense in the 17th century and the couch in the 18th.[14] Johnson (1755), who believed it "an eastern word", still defined it as a splendid seat covered with carpets.[15] Sterne used it figuratively in 1768,[5] and sofa bed, a sofa that can be used as a bed, is attested by 1794.[2]

Timeline

  • 1377 – the word in Old Anatolian Turkish.[11][5]
  • 1519 – Middle French soffa.[5]
  • 1625 – a raised, cushioned part of the floor (Purchas).[5][10]
  • before 1712 – an upholstered seat for several people.[5]
  • 1717 – the same sense, in Etymonline and Barnhart.[2][10]
  • 1768 – figurative use (Sterne).[5]
  • 1794 – sofa bed.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long upholstered seat with a back and usually arms, for two or more people; a couch or settee.
  2. (historical) In the Middle East, a raised section of floor covered with carpets and cushions for sitting on; a divan.

Word family

  • sofa table
  • sofa bed

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ a b Nişanyan, Sevan, Nişanyan Sözlük: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi (online edition)
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  14. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.