solution

Where does the word "solution" come from? It comes from Latin solutio, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).

Solution’s story begins in Latin: solutio meant “a loosening, an untying.” A loosening, an untying, from solvere (to loosen). It reached English by 1300s as solution. Settled as the English word for the answer to a problem. Today, solution means the answer to a problem, or a liquid mixture in which something is dissolved.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient solutio "a loosening, an untying", a loosening, an untying, from solvere (to loosen).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1300s solution "the answer to a problem, or a dissolved mixture", settled as the English word for the answer to a problem.