Etymology

soffit

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Today it means: The visible underside of an arch, balcony, beam, cornice, staircase, vault or any other architectural element. Full definition →

French soffite ← Italian soffitto ← Vulgar Latin *suffīctus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromsuffīgō“to fasten or fix onto”
  2. Vulgar Latin · derived from*suffīctus
  3. Italian · derived fromsoffitto
  4. French · derived fromsoffite
  5. English todaysoffit

From French soffite, from Italian soffitto, from Vulgar Latin *suffīctus, perfect passive participle of Latin suffīgō (“to fasten or fix onto”).

Words from the same roots

Latinsuffīgō all →

suffigalsuffigation

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.