English
solo
Solo comes from Italian solo ‘alone’, from Latin sōlus ‘alone’, whose further origin is uncertain.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsōlus1‘alone’
- Italianc. 1300–presentsolo1‘alone’
- Englishearliest quotation 1970solo1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English solo
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1970, Paul McCartney, Two of Us: “Two of us wearing raincoats / Standing solo /…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsōlusWiktionary, English solo‘alone’
- Italianc. 1300–presentsoloWiktionary, English solo‘alone’
- Englishearliest quotation 1970soloWiktionary, English solo. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1970, Paul McCartney, Two of Us: “Two of us wearing raincoats / Standing solo /…”
The story
Borrowed from Italian solo, from Latin sōlus, probably related to se (‘himself’).
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with solo, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *swé ‘self’
through Latin sōlus ‘alone, sole, only, by oneself with no others around’
27 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun A piece of music for one performer.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “solo”. 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 sōlus / solo