Comfy

How to spell comfy

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce comfy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does comfy mean?

1. adjectiveComfortable and cosy in an informal, everyday way.

Comfy in a sentence

• After a long shift she changed into her most comfy clothes.

• The old armchair by the window is still the comfy seat in the house.

Where does comfy come from?

Language of origin: French

Comfy is a relaxed, informal shortening of comfortable, which arrived in English through Old French confortable, built on the verb conforter meaning 'to strengthen' or 'to console'. That verb traces back to the Latin confortare, formed from com- (an intensifying prefix meaning 'altogether') and fortis (strong), so the literal old idea was 'to make thoroughly strong'. Over the centuries the sense softened from giving strength to giving ease and physical pleasantness, which is the meaning we keep today. The clipped pet form comfy, with its cosy -y ending, first appears in the early nineteenth century alongside other affectionate shortenings of the era. The spelling trap is small but real: the silent letter pattern of 'comfortable' is dropped, and writers sometimes overthink it as 'comfey' or 'comfie' when the simple -fy ending is correct.

How the word is built

• comf- (clipped from comfortable)
• -y (adjective suffix forming a familiar, informal form)