salve means an ointment, cream, or balm with soothing, healing, or calming effects. It carries an Arena rating of 1659, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, salve ranks #41 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #867 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,150 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #4,747 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
salve is pronounced /sɑːv/.
Why “salve” is a great word
A healing or soothing ointment, or the act of applying such a remedy. From Middle English salve, from Old English sealf ("ointment"), from Proto-West Germanic *salbu, from Proto-Germanic *salbō, from Proto-Indo-European *solp-éh₂, derived from *selp- ("salve, ointment"), first recorded before 900. Unlike balm, which carries the perfume of aromatic comfort, or antiseptic, a clinical warrior against microbes, salve is the humble, tactile minister to broken skin. It is the cool unguent smoothed onto a child's scraped knee, the waxy layer sealing a gardener's cracked hands, the amber resin of pine sap hardening on a summer cut—a tangible, quiet promise that the surface of things can be made whole again.
Etymology
From Middle English salve, from Old English sealf, from Proto-West Germanic *salbu, from Proto-Germanic *salbō, from Proto-Indo-European *solp-éh₂, from *selp- (“salve, ointment”). Cognates Cognate with Middle Low German salve (Danish salve, Dutch zalf), Old High German salba (German Salbe), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍉𐌽𐍃 (salbōns), Albanian gjalpë (“butter”), Sanskrit सर्पिस् (sarpís), Ancient Greek ἔλπος (élpos).
noun
- An ointment, cream, or balm with soothing, healing, or calming effects.
- Any remedy or action that soothes or heals.e.g.“Your forgiveness was a salve to my conscience and a balm to my wounded ego.”
verb
- To calm or assuage.e.g.“She feels guilty for pampering him, and salves her conscience by bossily ordering him to go and fetch the clothes from the line[.]” — 1985, Joan Morrison, Share House Blues, Boolarong Publications, page 26:
- To heal by applications or medicaments; to apply salve to; to anoint.e.g.“I do beseech your majesty […] salve the long-grown wounds of my intemperance."” — c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and E
- To heal; to remedy; to cure; to make good.e.g.“But Ebranck salved both their infamies / With noble deedes.” — 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 21:
- To salvage.e.g.“The interior woodwork was largely salved from the two cars, as well as the majority of the fittings and seats.” — 1942 March, “Notes and News: Repairing Blitzed Underground Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 90:
- To save (the appearances or the phenomena); to explain (a celestial phenomenon); to account for (the apparent motions of the celestial bodies).
- To resolve (a difficulty); to refute (an objection); to harmonize (an apparent contradiction).e.g.“He which should hold it more rational to make the whole Universe move, and thereby to salve the Earths mobility, is more unreasonable....” — 1661, Thomas Salusbury, transl., Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems:
- To explain away; to mitigate; to excuse.
- To say “salve” to; to greet; to salute.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- salver 69% match — One who salves or cures. vs salve →
- unction 68% match — An ointment or salve. vs salve →
- balmlike 65% match — Resembling or characteristic of a balm; soothing, healing. vs salve →
- basilicon 59% match — Any of various ointments believed to have “sovereign” virtues. vs salve →
- balsam 59% match — A sweet-smelling oil or resin derived from various plants. vs salve →
- leniment 58% match — Something that soothes; a sedative or comforter. vs salve →
- balm 57% match — Any of various aromatic resins exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus Commiphora of Africa, Arabia and India and Myroxylon of South America. vs salve →
- unguent 57% match — Any cream containing medicinal ingredients applied to the skin for therapeutic purposes. vs salve →