Etymograph

English

safe

Safe comes from Middle English sauf, from Old French sauf, from Latin salvus ‘whole’, ultimately from PIE *solh₂- ‘whole’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-1‘whole’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*salawos1‘whole’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsalvus1‘whole’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sauf1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sauf1‘Unaffected by or safe from injury’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1883safe1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English safe
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1883, Emma Raymond Pitman, Florence Godfrey's Faith: A Story of Australian Life: “"[…] so if you think he is at the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-Wiktionary, English safe‘whole’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*salawosWiktionary, English safe‘whole’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsalvusWiktionary, English safe‘whole’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400saufWiktionary, English safe
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saufWiktionary, English safe‘Unaffected by or safe from injury’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1883safeWiktionary, English safe. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1883, Emma Raymond Pitman, Florence Godfrey's Faith: A Story of Australian Life: “"[…] so if you think he is at the…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- ‘whole, every’

  • sold ← solde ← solde
  • solid ← solide ← solide ← solidus ← *soliðos
  • holocaust ← holocauste ← holocaustum ← ὁλόκαυστον ← ὁλόκαυστος
  • sol ← solidum ← solidus ← *soliðos ← *solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s
  • salute ← salūtō ← salūs ← *salūts
  • xu ← sou ← soldus ← solidus ← *soliðos
  • sou ← soldus ← solidus ← *soliðos ← *solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s
  • salutation ← salutacioun ← salutacion ← salutatio ← saluto
  • salutary ← salutaire ← salutaris ← salus ← *salūts
  • salubrious ← salūber ← *salūs ← *salūts

through Latin salvus ‘whole, safe’

  • save ← saven ← sauver ← salvāre ← salvō
  • salvation ← savacioun ← salvacion ← salvātiō ← salvō

44 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Not in danger; out of harm's reach.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “safe”. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- / safe