A loofahlike bathing sponge, often spelled 'loofah' or 'luffa,' used for scrubbing the skin in the shower or bath.
Variant spelling of 'loofah' or 'luffa,' which comes from Arabic 'lūfah,' the name of the plant Luffa aegyptiaca. The word entered English in the 19th century through trade with Egypt and the Middle East, where the dried plant was used as a natural sponge.
It's wild that the humble shower sponge comes from an Arabic plant name that traveled through trade routes—and English speakers spelled it so many different ways ('loofah,' 'luffa,' 'goofah') that dictionaries had to accept them all as correct!
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