solve: [15] Etymologically, solve means ‘release’, particularly by the payment of debt. It was borrowed from Latin solvere ‘release, unbind, pay’, which was descended from an earlier *seluere. This was a compound verb based on luere ‘loosen, release, pay’, a descendant of the same Indo-European base that produced English analyse, loose, lose, etc.
The notion of ‘payment of debts’ survives in English solvent [17], and a metaphorical extension of ‘loosening’ to ‘turning a solid into a liquid’ can be seen in soluble [14] and the derivative dissolve [14]. The use of solve for ‘explain’, now the major English sense, emerged in Latin, but it was not a major feature of the Latin verb. Other related forms include absolute, absolve, and resolve [14]. => absolute, absolve, analyse, dissolve, loose, lose, resolve, solution
solve (v.)
late 14c., "to disperse, dissipate, loosen," from Latin solvere "to loosen, dissolve; untie, release, detach; depart; unlock; scatter; dismiss; accomplish, fulfill; explain; remove," from PIE *se-lu-, from reflexive pronoun *s(w)e- (see idiom) + root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart" (see lose). The meaning "explain, answer" is attested from 1530s; for sense evolution, see solution. Mathematical use is attested from 1737. Related: Solved; solving.
雙語例句
1. I dreamed up a plan to solve both problems at once.
我想出了一個方案，可以同時解決兩個問題。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Human societies have the power to solve the problems confronting them.
人類社會有能力解決麵臨的問題。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Egypt wants to solve the problem in an atmosphere of cordiality.
埃及想要友好地解決該問題。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Their domestic reforms did nothing to solve the problem of unemployment.
他們的國內改革未能解決失業問題。
來自柯林斯例句
5. She leaned on him to help her to solve her problems.