solve English · revision 5201

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1440|origins=la luere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /sɒlv/, US /sɑːlv/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|solven]], [[bor|la|solvere|t=to loosen, dissolve, release, pay]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from *se-luō, from [[m|la|sē-|t=apart]] and [[m|la|luere|t=to release, atone]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*leu-|t=to loosen, divide]].^(Etymonline) It is related to [[absolve]], [[dissolve]], [[resolve]], [[solution]], [[soluble]] and [[solvent]].^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To disperse, dissipate or loosen: before 1398 in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's De Proprietatibus Rerum, the late 14th century in Etymonline,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) about 1440 in the OED.^(OED 1989) In Middle English it was used especially in medicine, of dissolving a substance in a liquid.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To explain, clear up or answer is from the 1530s, before 1533 in the OED,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) although the matching noun ''solution'', in the sense of an explanation, is recorded from 1375.^(Barnhart 1988) To pay a debt is from 1558.^(OED 1989) In mathematics, to work out the answer to a problem is from 1737.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a. 1398 – to loosen, disperse.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a. 1533 – to explain, answer.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1558 – to pay off.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1737 – in mathematics.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To find the answer to a problem or the explanation of a [[mystery]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' To work out the answer to a problem or the roots of an [[equation]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[solver]]

+ * [[presolve]]

+ * [[solvable]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[absolve]]

+ * [[dissolve]]

+ * [[soluble]]

+ * [[solute]]

+ * [[solution]]

+ * [[solvent]]

+ * [[resolve]]

+ * [[loose]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Solve, decipher, resolve and unravel share the sense of clearing up something puzzling or hard to understand.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}