English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -əʊfi

Proper noun

Sophie

1. A female given name.
   • 1832 Barry Cornwall, English Songs, 1851, LXXXV ("To Sophie"):

     Wilt thou be a nun, Sophie? / Nothing but a nun? / Is it not a better thing / With thy friends to laugh and sing?

   • 1991 Julian Barnes, Talking It Over, ISBN 0-224-03157-0 page 241, 252:

     No, like a small child, my daughter, Sophie Anne Louise. We gave her three names, all of which exist in English as well as in French, so she can change her name just by changing her accent. - - -

     Sophie Anne Louise. It is a bit pretentious, do you not find? Maybe it is better in English. Sophie Anne Louise. No, it still sounds like one of Queen Victoria's grandchildren.

2. A diminutive of the female given name Sophia.
   • 1995, Marilyn Seguin, The Bell Keeper: The story of Sophia and the Massacre of the Indians at Gnadenhutten, Ohio, in 1782, page 8,

     Sophia landed on her behind on the soft moss that lined the river bank. "Besides, you don't win yet, Sophie," he said. "I have one more stone still."

Derived terms

• Sophie's choice

Etymology 2

See Sophy

Noun

Sophie ‎(plural Sophies)

1. Archaic spelling of Sophy^[1](title of a Safavid dynasty shah):
   • 1980, Savory, Roger, Iran under the Safavids, Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge University Press, published 2007, ISBN 9780521224833, page 259:

     The Safavid shahs were commonly termed by Western writers "Sophie", "Sophy", "Sophi" or "Soffi". All these terms were probably corruptions of Ṣafī, the name of the founder of the Safavid Order, rather than of Ṣūfī, as the Safavid supporters called themselves.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:Sophie.

References

1. ↑ “Sophy, n.1”, in OED Online, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Danish

Proper noun

Sophie

1. A female given name, variant of Sofie.

French

Proper noun

Sophie f

1. A female given name, cognate to English Sophia.
2. (geography, archaic) the capital city of Bulgaria
   • Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui, Voyage en Bulgarie 1841, chapitre IX - 1845

     On franchit une marche de Nissa à Mustapha-Pacha-Palanka, puis une autre de Palanka à Scharkoë et une troisième de Scharkoë à Sophie, en traversant le long plateau de Tzaribrod.

Synonyms

• (city) Sofia

German

Proper noun

Sophie

1. A female given name, variant of Sophia

Norman

Proper noun

Sophie f

1. A female given name, equivalent to English Sophia.

Swedish

Proper noun

Sophie

1. A female given name, a less common spelling of Sofie.

English

Noun

sophie ‎(countable and uncountable, plural sophies)

1. Obsolete spelling of sophy (wisdom). [15th and 16th century]

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin sophia.

Noun

sophie ‎(countable and uncountable, plural sophies)

1. (uncountable) sophy (wisdom)
2. (countable) sophy (sage)
3. God (the deity of Abrahamic religions)

References

• sophie in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• “sophīe, n.”, in MED Online, University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2015-03-23