English
solve
Solve comes from Middle English solven, from Latin solvō ‘to loosen, untie’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolvō‘to loosen, untie’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500solven‘to dissolve, break up’
- Englishearliest quotation 1609solve
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolvō‘to loosen, untie’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500solven‘to dissolve, break up’
- Englishearliest quotation 1609solve
Earliest quotation: 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 69: “The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- ‘to cut off, release’
lose, analysis, lease, analyst, paralysis, dialysis, palsy, paralyze, paralytic, insoluble, lysis, loess, 26 more
through Latin luō ‘to untie, set free, separate’
resolution, dissolution, absolution, 10 more
through Latin solvō ‘to loosen, untie, undo’
Today it means
verb To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin solvō / solve