soft

See also -soft

English

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: sŏft, IPA: /sɒft/, SAMPA: /sQft/
• (US) enPR: säft, sôft, IPA: /sɑft/, /sɔft/, SAMPA: /sAft/, /sOft/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒft

Etymology

From Middle English softe (“soft, easy, gentle, yielding”), from Old English sōfte, alteration of earlier sēfte (“soft, gentle, easy, comfortable”), from Proto-Germanic *samftijaz (“level, even, smooth, soft, gentle”), from *somaz (“agreeable, fitting”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, whole”). Cognate with Dutch zacht (“soft”), German sanft (“soft, yielding”), Old Norse sœmr (“agreeable, fitting”), Old Norse samr (“same”). More at seem, same.

Adjective

soft (comparative softer, superlative softest)

1. Giving way under pressure.

   My head sank easily into the soft pillow.

2. (of cloth or similar material) Smooth and flexible.

   Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.

3. Gentle.

   There was a soft breeze blowing.

4. Requiring little or no effort, easy

   a soft job

5. Not bright or intense

   Soft lighting

6. (of a road intersection) Having an acute angle.

   At the intersection, there are two roads going to the left. Take the soft left.

7. (of a sound) Quiet.

   I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.

8. (linguistics) voiced, sonant

   DH represents the voiced (soft) th of English these clothes. — The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

9. (linguistics) (rare) voiceless
10. (linguistics, Slavic languages) palatalized
11. (slang) Lacking strength or resolve, wimpy.

    When it comes to drinking, he is as soft as they come.

12. (of water) Low in dissolved calcium compounds.

    You won't need as much soap, as the water here is very soft.

13. (Northern England, colloquial) Foolish.
14. (physics) Of a ferromagnetic material; a material that becomes essentially non magnetic when an external magnetic field is removed, a material with a low magnetic coercivity. (compare hard)
15. (of a person) Physically or emotionally weak.

Synonyms

• (of a cloth): non-abrasive, fluffy
• (gentle): gentle, light
• (of a sound): quiet
• (lacking strength or resolve): meek, mild, wimpy
• (foolish): daft, foolish, silly, stupid

Antonyms

• (giving way under pressure): hard, resistant, solid, stony
• (of a cloth): abrasive, scratchy
• (gentle): harsh, rough, strong
• (acute): hard
• (of a sound): loud
• (lacking strength or resolve): firm, strict, tough
• (of water): hard
• (foolish): sensible

Derived terms

Terms derived from soft

soft-boiled soft copy soft drink soften soft focus soft-hearted softly

softness soft on soft palate soft power soft serve soft shoe soft soap

soft-spoken soft touch soft toy software soft wood softy

Translations

giving way under pressure

Arabic: ناعم (ar) (naa`im) Chamicuro: kala chmawa, pe'cha Chinese: Mandarin: 軟 (cmn), 软 (cmn) (ruǎn) Czech: měkký (cs) m. Dutch: zacht (nl) Esperanto: mola (eo) Finnish: pehmeä (fi) French: mou (fr) m., molle (fr) f., doux (fr) Galician: mol (gl) German: weich (de) Hungarian: lágy (hu), puha (hu) Icelandic: mjúkur (is) m., mjúk (is) f., mjúkt (is) n. Ido: mola (io) Irish: bog (ga) Italian: morbido (it) m., morbida (it) f. Japanese: 柔らかい (ja) (やわらかい, yawarakai) Korean: 부드럽다 (budeureobda, -reopda) Latin: mollis (la)

Latvian: mīksts (lv) m. Luxembourgish: weech (lb), mëll (lb), siddeleg (lb) Norwegian: svak (no) Old Church Slavonic: мѧкъкъ (mękŭkŭ) Polish: miękki (pl) Portuguese: mole (pt) Rohingya: norom Russian: мягкий (ru) (mjágkij) (read: mjáxkij) Scottish Gaelic: bog, maoth, sèimh Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ме̏к (sh) Roman: mȅk (sh) Slovene: mêhek (sl) Spanish: blando (es) Swedish: mjuk (sv) Turkish: yumuşak (tr) Vietnamese: mềm (vi) Welsh: meddal (cy) Yiddish: ווײך (yi) (veykh)

of a cloth

Arabic: ناعم (ar) (naa`im) Chinese: Mandarin: 軟 (cmn), 软 (cmn) (ruǎn) Dutch: zacht (nl) French: mou (fr) m., molle (fr) f. German: weich (de) Irish: bog (ga) Italian: soffice (it) m. and f. Japanese: 柔らかい (ja) (やわらかい, yawarakai) Korean: 부드럽다 (budeureobda, -reopda)

Kurdish: نه‌رم Norwegian: myk (no) Old Church Slavonic: мѧкъкъ (mękŭkŭ) Portuguese: macio m., macia f. Russian: мягкий (ru) (mjágkij) (read: mjáxkij) Scottish Gaelic: bog, tlàth, sèimh, maoth Spanish: suave (es) Telugu: మెత్తటి (mettaTi) Vietnamese: mềm (vi) Welsh: meddal (cy)

gentle

Croatian: blag (hr) Dutch: zacht (nl) Esperanto: dolĉa (eo) Finnish: lempeä (fi), hellä (fi) French: doux (fr) m., douce (fr) f. German: sanft (de) Hungarian: gyengéd (hu) Irish: bog (ga) Italian: dolce (it) m. and f.

Korean: 부드럽다 (budeureobda, -reopda) Norwegian: forsiktig (no) Old Church Slavonic: мѧкъкъ (mękŭkŭ) Russian: мягкий (ru) (mjágkij) (read: mjáxkij) Scottish Gaelic: bog, maoth, caomh, tlàth Spanish: suave (es) , ligero (es), tenue (es) Vietnamese: nhẹ (vi), nhẹ nhàng (vi) Welsh: tyner (cy)

of a sound

Dutch: zacht (nl), stil (nl) Finnish: vaimea (fi) German: leise (de) Kurdish: نه‌رم, هێمن Norwegian: myk (no)

Russian: мягкий (ru) (mjágkij) (read: mjáxkij) Scottish Gaelic: mìn, binn Spanish: tenue (es) Vietnamese: khẽ (vi), khẽ khàng (vi)

lacking strength or resolve

Dutch: week (nl) German: weich (de)

Norwegian: svak (no) Russian: слабый (ru) (slábyj)

of water

Dutch: zacht (nl)

Norwegian: bløt (no)

foolish — see foolish

See also

• mollify

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: field · street · attempt · #830: soft · officers · likely · beneath

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French

Etymology

From English soft

Noun

soft m. (plural softs)

1. (sexuality) soft porn
2. (computing) (uncountable) Software.
3. (computing) (countable) A piece of software.

Adjective

soft (epicene, plural softs)

1. softcore (pornography)

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Italian

Etymology

English

Adjective

soft inv.

1. soft (tone etc; temporary (computing))