# surf

> English word · Noun · IPA /sɜːf/ · frequency rank #8,866

## Definitions
1. Waves that break on an ocean shoreline.
2. An instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.
3. A dance popular in the 1960s in which the movements of a surfboard rider are mimicked.
4. The bottom of a drain.

## Etymology
Probably from earlier suff, suffe (“the inrush of the sea towards the shore”), possibly from Middle English suffe. Compare sough, surf (“a gutter, drain, sewer, trench”) and sough (“a soothing, gentle, murmuring sound of wind or water”). Alternatively, possibly of Indo-Aryan 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.

## Easily confused with
- **SUV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-suv)
- **Sus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-sus)
- **SUVs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-suvs)
- **surge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-surge)
- **sutra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-sutra)
- **surly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-surly)
- **Surya** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-surya)
- **surry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-surry)
- **surfer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/surf-vs-surfer)
- **su** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/su-vs-surf)
- **sf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sf-vs-surf)
- **sir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sir-vs-surf)
- **sun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sun-vs-surf)
- **sub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sub-vs-surf)
- **sum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sum-vs-surf)
- **sue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sue-vs-surf)
- **sup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sup-vs-surf)
- **ser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ser-vs-surf)
- **STR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/str-vs-surf)
- **Sar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sar-vs-surf)

## Common misspellings (6)
`sruf`, `ssurf`, `sufr`, `surff`, `surrf`, `usrf`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/surf