solitaire

Etymology

It is borrowed from French solitaire (“solitary”),^[2][3][4][5] which goes back to Old French solitaire,^[4][6][7] from Latin sōlitārius (“alone, lonely, isolated”).^[2][3][8][6] Barnhart calls the French word a learned borrowing from the Latin.^[9] The Latin adjective is from solitas (“loneliness”), from sōlus (“alone”),^[3][5] the source also of solitary.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A widow: before 1500 as solitere according to Barnhart,^[9][10] about 1500 according to Etymonline.^[3] The OED has no such record and starts the word in 1716, with "a person who lives in seclusion", in a letter of Pope.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

After the recluse of 1716^[2][3] came a gem set by itself, recorded from 1722 in the OED^[2] (Etymonline and Barnhart have 1727),^[3][9] and a game for one player, from 1746 in Walpole's letters;^[2][9][3] Barnhart finds these two senses in French only later, in 1798 and 1765.^[9] Johnson (1755) gave only a recluse and an ornament for the neck;^[11] the OED records a man's loose necktie of black silk or ribbon from 1731.^[2][6] The name then spread to solitary creatures: an extinct flightless bird in 1797, a Jamaican bird in 1847, and a lone wild animal in 1900.^[2] American usage kept the word for the card games that the British call patience.^[7][6] In US prison slang it has meant a solitary confinement cell since at least 1907, and in Black American slang of the 1940s it meant suicide.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1500 – solitere, a widow.^[9][3]
• 1716 – a person who lives in seclusion, a recluse.^[2][3][9]
• 1722 – a precious stone, usually a diamond, set by itself.^[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1727.^[3][9]
• 1731 – a man's loose necktie of black silk or broad ribbon.^[2]
• 1746 – a game for one player, played with cards or on a board.^[2][9][3]
• 1797 – a large flightless bird, formerly found on the island of Rodriguez.^[2]
• 1847 – a songbird of Jamaica.^[2]
• 1885 – attributive, intended for one person only.^[2]
• 1900 – a solitary wild animal, especially one hunted for sport.^[2]
• 1907 – US prison slang, a solitary confinement cell.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various card games for one player, in which cards dealt at random are arranged in a set pattern; the American name for patience.^[5][7][6]
2. A board game for one player, in which pegs or marbles are captured until only one is left.^[7][5][2]
3. A single gem, especially a diamond, set alone.^[7][5][2]
4. A piece of jewellery, especially a ring, with such a stone.^[5][6]
5. Either of two extinct flightless birds of the Mascarene Islands, related to the dodo.^[7][6][2]
6. Any of various American songbirds of the thrush family.^[7][6]
7. A person who lives alone, apart from others; a recluse.^[2][6][11]
8. (historical) A man's loose necktie of black silk or broad ribbon, worn in the 18th century.^[6][2]
9. (US prison slang) A solitary confinement cell.^[12]

Related words

• solitary
• sole

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com