surf

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɜːf/
• IPA^(key): /sɝf/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)f
• Homophone: serf (in accents with the fern-fir-fur merger)

Etymology

Unknown. Formerly spelled suffe, and possibly related to sough, or possibly of Indo-Aryan origin, as the word was formerly a reference to the coast of India.

Noun

surf (countable and uncountable, plural surfs)

1. Waves that break on an ocean shoreline.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     […] 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 […]

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 5

     '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.

   • 1900, Joseph Grinnell, Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region, Alaska‎^[1], page 12:

     It was alone, nervously alighting and flying short distances along the surf.

   • 1941, Raymond Russell Camp, Fishing the Surf‎^[2], 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.

   • 1963, Vlad Evanoff, Spin Fishing‎^[3], page 181:

     Snook are found in rivers, canals, inlets and along the surf, especially around sand bars, tidal rips, jetties, bridges and piers.

2. An instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.

   We went of a surf this morning.

3. (UK, dialect) The bottom of a drain.

Derived terms

Terms derived from surf

• counter surf
• surfboard, surfboarder
• Surf City
• surf line
• surf rider
• surf rock

Translations

waves that break

• Cornish: mordardh m
• Dutch: branding (nl)
• Faroese: brim n
• Finnish: surffi
• French: brisants (fr) m pl
• German: Brandung (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ῥόθιον n (rhóthion), (Epic) ῥηγμῑ́ν f (rhēgmī́n)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: partközeli tarajos hullám
• Icelandic: brim (is) n
• Irish: bruth m
• Italian: frangenti (it) m pl, flutti (it) m pl
• Maori: auheke, karekare, pōhutu, tai whati
• Portuguese: rebentação f
• Russian: прибо́й (ru) m (pribój)
• Spanish: marea (es) f, oleaje (es) m
• Welsh: ewyn y don m, brig y don m, ewyn môr

Verb

1. To ride a wave, usually on a surfboard.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To browse the Internet, television, etc.

Translations

to ride a wave

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 衝浪／冲浪 (zh) (chōnglàng), 冲浪 (zh) (chōnglàng)

• Cornish: mordardha
• Dutch: surfen (nl)
• Esperanto: ondorajdi
• Finnish: lainelautailla
• French: surfer (fr)
• German: wellenreiten, surfen (de)
• Hawaiian: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: גלש
• Hungarian: hullámlovagol, szörfözik (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: surfar (io)
• Italian: surfare, fare surf
• Japanese: サーフインをする (sāfin-o suru)
• Maori: whakahekeheke, whakahekeheke ngaru, whakahekeheke, eke ngaru, whakaheke ngaru, whakaretireti, auheke
• Norman: seurfer
• Portuguese: surfar (pt)
• Russian: занима́ться сёрфингом (zanimátʹsja sjórfingom)
• Spanish: surfear
• Swedish: surfa (sv)
• Turkish: sörf yapmak (tr)
• Welsh: beistonna, syrffio

to browse the Internet

• Catalan: navegar (ca)
• Cornish: rosya
• Dutch: surfen (nl)
• Esperanto: retumi (eo)
• Finnish: surffata (fi)
• French: surfer (fr)
• German: surfen (de)
• Hebrew: גלש
• Hungarian: szörfözik (hu), szörföl (hu) (slang)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: surfar (io)
• Italian: navigare (it)
• Navajo: bitaaʼ dilkʼąąs
• Norman: seurfer
• Polish: surfować
• Portuguese: navegar (pt)
• Swedish: surfa (sv)
• Welsh: syrffio

Derived terms

• surfer noun

Derived terms

• (ride a wave): surfer, surfing, surfboard; crowdsurf, train-surf
• (browse the Internet): channel-surf, counter surf, cybersurf, netsurf, silver surfer

Anagrams

• Furs, furs

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Italian

Etymology

From English surf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsuɾf/, IPA^(key): /səɾf/
• Hyphenation: sùrf

Noun

surf m (uncountable)

1. (sports) surfing

Derived terms

• surfista
• surfare
• tavola da surf
• windsurf

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Spanish

Etymology

From English surf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suɾf/, /so̞ɾf/

Noun

surf m (uncountable)

1. surfing

Derived terms

• surfear
• surfista
• tabla de surf