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.
双语例句
1. I dreamed up a plan to solve both problems at once.
我想出了一个方案，可以同时解决两个问题。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Human societies have the power to solve the problems confronting them.
人类社会有能力解决面临的问题。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Egypt wants to solve the problem in an atmosphere of cordiality.
埃及想要友好地解决该问题。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Their domestic reforms did nothing to solve the problem of unemployment.
他们的国内改革未能解决失业问题。
来自柯林斯例句
5. She leaned on him to help her to solve her problems.
