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A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, chesterfield, or davenport, is a piece of furniture that can seat multiple people. It is commonly found in the form of a bench with Upholstery and is often fitted with springs and tailored cushion and pillows. Although a couch is used primarily for sitting, it may be used for sleeping. In homes, couches are normally put in the family room, living room, den, or lounge. They are sometimes also found in non-residential settings such as , lobbies of commercial offices, , and Pub. Couches can also vary in size, color, and design.
The word sofa comes from the Turkish language language and is derived from the Arabic language word ("ledge/bench"), cognates with the Aramaic word sippa ("mat").AMHER, sofa: Turkish, from Arabic suffah, from Aramaic sippa, sippəta. Nathan Bailey in his Dictionarium Britannicum (1730) defines sofa as a "a sort of alcove much used in Asia ... furnished with rich carpets and cushions."
The word settee or setee comes from the Old English word setl, which was used to describe long benches with high backs and arms, but is now generally used to describe small upholstered seating structures. Both "sofa" and "settee" terms came into use in the beginning of the 18th century. Originally the settee defined a smaller sofa, but by the 20th century the distinction was lost.
Other terms which can be synonymous with the above definition are divan , davenport , lounge , and canapé''.
In Canadian English, the word chesterfield is used to describe any couch or sofa, (2025). 9780195418163, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195418163 particularly among older Canadians. According to a 1992 survey conducted in the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, the term is quickly vanishing.Chambers, J. K. "The Canada-U.S. border as a vanishing isogloss: the evidence of chesterfield". Journal of English Linguistics; 23 (1995): 156–66, excerpt at chass.utoronto.ca .
Other variants include the divan, the fainting couch (backless or partial-backed) and the canapé (an ornamental three-seater). To conserve space, some sofas double as beds in the form of , , or .
A furniture set consisting of a sofa with two matching is known as a "chesterfield suite" or "living-room suite". In the UK, the word chesterfield was used to refer to any couch in the 1900s. A chesterfield now describes a deep buttoned sofa, usually made from leather, with arms and back of the same height. The first chesterfield, with its distinctive deep buttoned, quilted (or "tufted") leather upholstery and lower seat base, was commissioned by Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773).
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