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PlainSpell

soft

/sɔft/adjective, noun

soft is spelled S-O-F-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 48 times per million words in written English, the 2,113th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, soft means “Easily giving way under pressure” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in soft?

Letters4: S-O-F-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing48 times per million words; the 2,113th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is soft?

Soft appears 48 times per million words in written English, the 2,113th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce soft?

  • UK /sɒft/
  • UK /sɔːft/
  • US /sɔft/

Soft has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-soft.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with soft?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as soft from its last stressed vowel (/ɔft/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of soft

  • softer comparative
  • softest superlative
  • softs plural
  • more soft comparative
  • most soft superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does soft mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Easily giving way under pressure.

    My head sank easily into the soft pillow.

  2. 2

    Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.

    Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.

  3. 3

    Quiet.

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

  4. 4

    Gentle.

    There was a soft breeze blowing.

  5. 5

    Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.

    soft eyes

  6. 6

    Gentle in action or motion; easy.

  7. 7

    Limp, weak.

  8. 8

    Weak in character; impressible.

noun

  1. 1

    archaicA soft-headed or foolish person; an idiot.

  2. 2

    A soft drink.

  3. 3

    A tyre whose compound is softer than mediums, and harder than supersofts.

  4. 4

    colloquialA soft sound or part of a sound.

  5. 5

    datednonstandardrareA piece of software.

    Sega and third-party licensees are set to release an abundance of softs that range from intense shooters to sports to reflex-testers.

  6. 6

    UKobsoleteslangBanknotes.

interjection

  1. 1

    archaicBe quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.

adverb

  1. 1

    obsoleteSoftly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate soft?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of soft: PSE.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Soft in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmou, molle, doux, tendre (easily giving way under pressure)
Germanweich (easily giving way under pressure), leise (of a sound), sanft (gentle)
Portuguesemole (easily giving way under pressure), suave (of a sound), macio (of cloth or similar material: smooth and…)
Spanishblando, muelle, mole, lene (easily giving way under pressure), suave (of cloth or similar material: smooth and…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does soft come from?

From Middle English softe, from Old English sōfte, alteration of earlier sēfte (“soft”), from Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī) (“level, even, smooth, soft, gentle”) (compare *sōmiz (“agreeable, fitting”)), from Proto-Indo-European *semptio-, *semtio-, from *sem- (“one, whole”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after soft