# sofa

Pronunciation: say "SOH-fuh" US /ˈsoʊfə/, UK /ˈsəʊfə/

## Noun

1. An upholstered seat with a raised back and one or two raised ends, long enough to seat two or more people comfortably.
   - Simple: A long, soft seat with a back and arms, made for two or more people to sit on.
   - _They sank into the soft sofa after a long day at work._
   - _Three guests squeezed onto the sofa to watch the movie._
3. An enslaved soldier serving in the army of the medieval Mali Empire.
   - Simple: A soldier who was a slave and fought in the army of the old Mali Empire.
   - _Thousands of sofas formed the backbone of the empire's infantry._
   - _A sofa owed his service to the ruler who commanded him._

## Verb

4. To furnish a room or space with one or more sofas for seating.
   - Simple: To put one or more sofas into a room or building.
   - _The designer chose to sofa the lobby with deep leather pieces._
   - _They sofaed the entire reception area in matching gray fabric._
5. To place or settle a person in a seated or lying position on a sofa.
   - Simple: To sit someone down or lay them down on a sofa.
   - _The nurse sofaed the patient gently and propped a pillow behind him._
   - _They decided to sofa the exhausted hiker until he regained his strength._

## Noun

2. A platform built up from the floor of a room or hall, usually laid with carpet, where people sit. *(archaic, East, Middle)*
   - Simple: A raised part of a floor, often covered with carpet, used as a place to sit.
   - _Visitors removed their shoes before stepping up onto the carpeted sofa to sit._
   - _The hall's raised sofa ran the length of one wall, its carpet worn from years of use._

## Origin

Borrowed from French sofa, which ultimately comes from Arabic ṣuffa, meaning a long seat made of stone or brick, covered with rich carpets and cushions for sitting. It may have entered European languages through Muslim Iberia or through Turkish.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sofa (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).