Chaise longue

For other uses, see Chaise longue (disambiguation).
"Lounge chair" redirects here. For the film, see Lounge Chair (film).
A chaise longue sofa
An 18th-century rococo chaise longue
A late 19th-century chaise longue

A chaise longue (/ʃeɪz ˈlɒŋ, tʃeɪz-, -ˈlɒ̃ɡ/;[1] French: [ʃɛz lɔ̃ɡ], "long chair") is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs of the sitter.

In modern French, the term chaise longue refers to any long reclining chair, such as a deckchair.

In English, the term "chaise longue" is sometimes written as chaise lounge and pronounced /ˌtʃeɪsˈlaʊndʒ/, a folk etymology replacement of part of the original French term with the unrelated English word lounge.[2] When English speakers imported a new kind of sofa from France in the late 1700s, they transformed the name 'chaise longue' ("long chair") into 'chaise lounge'—since 'lounge' is an English word spelled with the same letters and lounging is something one can do on a "chaise longue." This variant has been documented in British[3] texts since at least 1811 and in American texts[4] since 1824.[5]

  1. ^ "Chaise longue". Dictionary.com. 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  2. ^ "'Chaise Lounge' or 'Chaise Longue'?". Merriam Webster.
  3. ^ "Google Books Ngram Viewer". books.google.com. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  4. ^ "Google Books Ngram Viewer". books.google.com. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  5. ^ "'Chaise Lounge' or 'Chaise Longue'?". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2023-02-21.