surf
English
Etymology
Probably from earlier suff, suffe (“the inrush of the sea towards the shore”), possibly from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#SURFCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#SURF suffe. Compare sough, surf (“a gutter, drain, sewer, trench”) and sough (“a soothing, gentle, murmuring sound of wind or water”). Alternatively, possibly of Indo-AryanCategory:English terms derived from Indo-Aryan languages#SURF origin, as the word was formerly a reference to the coast of India, though this is doubtful as no positive etymon can be identified. The verb is from 1917. The verb referring to "browsing the Internet" was popularized by Jean Armour Polly.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA(key): /sɜːf/Category:English 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (General American) IPA(key): /sɝf/Category:English 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (Scotland) IPA(key): /sʌɹf/Category:English 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (New Zealand, Wales) IPA(key): /søːf/Category:English 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (Liverpool, fair–fur merger) IPA(key): /seːf/Category:English 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger) IPA(key): /sɛːf/Category:English 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)fCategory:Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)f#SURFCategory:Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)f/1 syllable#SURF
- Homophone: serf (fern–fir–fur merger)Category:English terms with homophones#SURF
Noun
surf (countable and uncountable, plural surfs)Category:English lemmas#SURFCategory:English nouns#SURFCategory:English uncountable nouns#SURFCategory:English countable nouns#SURFCategory:English countable nouns#SURFCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
- Waves that break on an ocean shoreline.
- 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
- […] perhaps it was the look of the island, with its gray, melancholy woods, and wild stone spires, and the surf that we could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach […]Category:English terms with quotations#SURF
- [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
- 'But when the surf fell enough for the boats to get ashore, and Greening held a lantern for me to jump down into the passage, after we had got the side out of the tomb, the first thing the light fell on at the bottom was a white face turned skyward.Category:English terms with quotations#SURF
- 1900, Joseph Grinnell, Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region, Alaska, page 12:
- It was alone, nervously alighting and flying short distances along the surf.Category:English terms with quotations#SURF
- 1941, Raymond Russell Camp, Fishing the Surf, page 248:
- In most instances the inshore holes or pockets along the surf do not produce as well as the cuts or sloughs between sand bars.Category:English terms with quotations#SURF
- 1963, Vlad Evanoff, Spin Fishing, page 181:
- Snook are found in rivers, canals, inlets and along the surf, especially around sand bars, tidal rips, jetties, bridges and piers.Category:English terms with quotations#SURF
- An instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.
- We went for a surf this morning.Category:English terms with usage examples#SURF
- A dance popular in the 1960s in which the movements of a surfboard rider are mimicked.
- 1964 July 15, The Australian, Sydney, page 20, column 3:
- She [...] loves to cook, sew and dance. She's up on all the latest steps like the frug, the hully-gully and the surf.Category:English terms with quotations#SURF
- (UKCategory:British English#SURF, dialectCategory:English dialectal terms#SURF) (Can we verify(+) this sense?)Category:Requests for verification in English entries#SURF The bottom of a drain.
Derived terms
- counter surf
- surf and turf
- Surf Beach
- surfbird
- surfboard
- surfboarder
- surf boat
- surf carnival
- surfcast
- Surf City
- surf clam
- Surf Coast
- surfcoast
- surf duck
- surfie
- surf kayaking
- surf lifesaving
- surflike
- surf line
- surfman
- surf mat
- surfperch
- surf punk
- surfrider
- surf rider
- surf riding
- surfriding
- surf rock
- surf satin
- surf scoter
- surfside
- Surfside
- surf ski
- surf torture
- surfwear
- surfy
Translations
Verb
surf (third-person singular simple present surfs, present participle surfing, simple past and past participle surfed)Category:English lemmas#SURFCategory:English verbs#SURFCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
- To ride a wave on a surfboard; to pursue or take part in the sport of surfing.
- To surf at a specified place.
- To bodysurf; to swim in the surf at a beach.
- 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 90:
- Such diversion as Podson could extort from his isolation was soon vitiated by repetition. He surfed. He sun-baked - with discretion till his skin had peeled and given him a harder cuticle.Category:English terms with quotations#SURF
- (ambitransitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#SURFCategory:English intransitive verbs#SURF) To browse the Internet, television, etc.
Derived terms
Translations
Anagrams
Category:en:Dances#SURFCategory:en:Surfing#SURFDutch
Pronunciation
Verb
surfCategory:Dutch non-lemma forms#SURFCategory:Dutch verb forms#SURFCategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
- inflection of surfen:
French
Noun
surf m (uncountable)Category:French lemmas#SURFCategory:French nouns#SURFCategory:French uncountable nouns#SURFCategory:French entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:French masculine nouns#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “surf”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Italian terms borrowed from English#SURFCategory:Italian unadapted borrowings from English#SURFCategory:Italian terms derived from English#SURF surf.
Pronunciation
Noun
surf m (invariable)Category:Italian lemmas#SURFCategory:Italian nouns#SURFCategory:Italian countable nouns#SURFCategory:Italian indeclinable nouns#SURFCategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:Italian masculine nouns#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
Derived terms
References
- ↑ surf in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Portuguese
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Portuguese terms borrowed from English#SURFCategory:Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English#SURFCategory:Portuguese terms derived from English#SURF surf.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈsɐʁ.fi/ [ˈsɐh.fi]Category:Portuguese 2-syllable words#SURFCategory:Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (São Paulo) IPA(key): /ˈsɐɾ.fi/Category:Portuguese 2-syllable words#SURFCategory:Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ˈsɐʁ.fi/ [ˈsɐχ.fi]Category:Portuguese 2-syllable words#SURFCategory:Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (Caipira) IPA(key): /ˈsɐɻ.fi/Category:Portuguese 2-syllable words#SURFCategory:Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈsɐʁ.fe/ [ˈsɐh.fe]Category:Portuguese 2-syllable words#SURFCategory:Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
Noun
surf m (uncountable)Category:Portuguese lemmas#SURFCategory:Portuguese nouns#SURFCategory:Portuguese uncountable nouns#SURFCategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:Portuguese masculine nouns#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
Further reading
- “surf”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Romanian terms borrowed from English#SURFCategory:Romanian unadapted borrowings from English#SURFCategory:Romanian terms derived from English#SURF surf.
Noun
surf n (uncountable)Category:Romanian lemmas#SURFCategory:Romanian nouns#SURFCategory:Romanian uncountable nouns#SURFCategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:Romanian neuter nouns#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
Declension
| singular only | indefinite | definite |
|---|---|---|
| nominative-accusative | surf | surful |
| genitive-dative | surf | surfului |
| vocative | surfule | |
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from EnglishCategory:Spanish terms borrowed from English#SURFCategory:Spanish terms derived from English#SURF surf.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsuɾf/ [ˈsuɾf]Category:Spanish 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- Rhymes: -uɾfCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/uɾf#SURFCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/uɾf/1 syllable#SURF
- Syllabification: surf
- IPA(key): /ˈsoɾf/ [ˈsoɾf]Category:Spanish 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
- IPA(key): /ˈseɾf/ [ˈseɾf]Category:Spanish 1-syllable words#SURFCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#SURF
Noun
surf m (uncountable)Category:Spanish lemmas#SURFCategory:Spanish nouns#SURFCategory:Spanish uncountable nouns#SURFCategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#SURFCategory:Spanish masculine nouns#SURFCategory:Pages with entries#SURFCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SURF
Derived terms
Further reading
- “surf”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025