English

solve

Solve comes from Middle English solven, from Latin solvō ‘to loosen, untie’.

Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolvō¹‘to loosen, untie’
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500solven¹‘to dissolve, break up’
Englishearliest quotation 1609solve¹

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

¹ Wiktionary, English solve
Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 69: “The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.”.

Lineage

Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolvō1Wiktionary, English solve‘to loosen, untie’
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500solven1Wiktionary, English solve‘to dissolve, break up’
Englishearliest quotation 1609solve1Wiktionary, English solve. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 69: “The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- ‘to cut off, release’

lose ← losen ← losian
analysis ← ἀνάλυσις ← ἀναλύω ← λύω
lease ← lesen ← lēasian ← lēas ← *laus
analyst ← analyste ← analyse ← ἀνάλυσις ← ἀναλύω
paralysis ← παράλυσις ← παραλύω ← λύω
dialysis ← διάλυσις ← δῐᾰλῡ́ω ← λύω
palsy ← palesie ← paralisie ← paralysis ← παράλυσις
paralyze ← paralysie ← paralyser ← paralysie ← paralysis
paralytic ← paralytique ← paralyticus ← παραλυτικός ← παραλύω
insoluble ← insolible ← insolūbilis ← solūbilis
lysis ← λῠ́σῐς ← λύω
loess ← Löss ← lösch ← los ← *laus

54 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “solve”. 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 solvō / solve