Etymograph

English

reserve

Reserve comes from Old French reserver, from Latin reservō ‘to keep back, reserve’, from re- ‘back’ + servō ‘to keep’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservō1‘to keep, protect’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEreservō2‘to reserve, keep back’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400reserver2
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1973reserve2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin reservo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English reserve
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1973, Charles Kyrle Wilkinson, Nishapur: Pottery of the Early Islamic Period: “Each is decorated with a simple disk in reserve…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservōWiktionary, Latin reservo‘to keep, protect’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEreservōWiktionary, English reserve‘to reserve, keep back’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400reserverWiktionary, English reserve
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1973reserveWiktionary, English reserve. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1973, Charles Kyrle Wilkinson, Nishapur: Pottery of the Early Islamic Period: “Each is decorated with a simple disk in reserve…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with reserve, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to guard, take care’

  • sort ← sorte ← sortem ← sors ← *sortis
  • series ← serō ← *serō ← *séreti
  • hero ← heroes ← heroes ← hērōs ← ἥρως
  • stream ← streem ← *straum ← *straumaz ← *srowmos
  • desert ← dēsertum ← dēserō ← serō ← *serō
  • insert ← insertus ← serō ← *serō ← *séreti
  • assertion ← assercioun ← assertiō ← asserō ← *adserō
  • sermon ← sermoun ← sermun ← sermō ← *sermō
  • exert ← exsertus ← exserō ← serō ← *serō
  • concierge ← conciarge ← consergius ← *cōnservius ← cōnservus
  • sorcery ← sorcerie ← sors ← *sortis ← *sértis
  • sorcerer ← sorcerere ← sorcer ← sortiārius ← sortem

68 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “reserve”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin reservo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin servō / reserve