name
Meaning 1
A diminutive of the female given name Sophia.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
Sophy
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: sōʹfē
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsəʊfi/
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Received-Pronunciation: sŏʹfē
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɒfi/
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Received-Pronunciation: sŏʹfi
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Received-Pronunciation: sŏʹfĭ
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɒfɪ/
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CMU ARPABET: S OW1 F IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Archaic form of Safawi (“a member of the Safavid dynasty”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
wisdom, knowledge, learning
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Alternative letter-case form of Sophy (“archaic form of Safawi”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A wise man; a sage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
Obsolete spelling of sophi.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
Any one of the various fields of study whose names end in -sophy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Ultimately from Ancient Greek; see Sophia.
A corruption of Arabic صَفَوِيّ (ṣafawiyy), the nisba indicating the dynasty's descent from Safi ad-Din al-Ardabili. Cognate with Middle French Sophi, New Latin Sophi, Sophus, Italian sofì, Spanish sofí. Not related to Sufi. Spellings possibly influenced by the name Sophia.
From the Middle English sophie, from the Latin sophia, from the Ancient Greek σοφῐ́ᾱ (sophĭ́ā, “high knowledge”: “learning”, “wisdom”); compare Sophia.
See Sophy.
A back-formation from sophies, originally plurale tantum, but later attested in singular use (see the 1678 quotation), itself an irregular Anglicisation of the Latin sophī, whence the English sophi; compare sophy.
An irregular Anglicisation of sophi; compare sophy 3.
From the common termination of the class of words denoted (e.g., philosophy, theosophy, etc.); compare the earlier ology and ism, and the later logy and osophy.