safe
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English sauf, safe, saf, saaf, from Old French sauf, saulf, salf (“safe”), from Latin salvus (“whole, safe”), from Proto-Italic *salawos, from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole, every”). Displaced Old English sicor (“secure, sure”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈseɪ̯f/, [ˈseɪ̯f]
Audio (US): (file) - (Australia, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈsæɪ̯f/, [ˈsæ̝ɪ̯f]
- Rhymes: -eɪf
- Hyphenation: safe
Adjective
[edit]safe (comparative safer or more safe, superlative safest or most safe)
- Not in danger; out of harm's reach.
- You’ll be safe from the storm here in the cabin.
- Free from risk.
- 1890, Jacob A[ugust] Riis, “The Sweaters of Jewtown”, in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 133:
- In fact, in presenting the home life of these people I have been at some pains to avoid the extreme of privation, taking the cases just as they came to hand on the safer middle-ground of average earnings.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him.
- 2012, D.B. Myers, The BodyWise Health System, page 37:
- Probably the safest and easiest 'tool' that you can use to get off your rusty-dusty and follow your choice of exercise routine.
- Providing protection from danger; providing shelter.
- We have to find a safe spot, where we can hide out until this is over.
- (baseball) When a batter successfully reaches first base, or when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base or returns to the base he last occupied; not out.
- The pitcher attempted to pick off the runner at first, but he was safe.
- (snooker, of an object ball) In a location that renders it difficult to pot.
- Properly secured.
- Synonym: secure
- Hyponyms: binary-safe, fail-safe, thread-safe, type-safe
- The documents are safe inside the cabbinet.
- (used after a noun, often forming a compound) Not susceptible to a specified source of harm.
- dishwasher-safe
- (UK, slang) Great, cool, awesome, respectable; a term of approbation, often as interjection.
- Synonyms: wicked, cool; see also Thesaurus:awesome
- 2013, Steve Carter, Love, Sex and Tesco's Finest Cava, →ISBN, page 169:
- “Yeah, safe mate, wassup?” says one hoodie, who should at least be credited with attempting a more detailed sentence construction.
- 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane:
- Dom (David Jonsson): Hey, love the photos. They're just so—
Nathan (Simon Manyonda): Safe.
- (UK, law, of a conviction) Supported by evidence and unlikely to be overturned. Usually used in the negative, as unsafe.
- It is clear that this is not a safe conviction.
- (slang) Lenient, usually describing a teacher that is easy-going.
- Synonyms: easygoing, merciful, tolerant; see also Thesaurus:lenient
- Antonyms: strict, harsh, intolerant
- Reliable; trusty.
- Synonym: trustworthy
- safe food
- Certain; sure.
- 1883, Emma Raymond Pitman, Florence Godfrey's Faith: A Story of Australian Life, page 137:
- " […] so if you think he is at the infirmary, I'll make my way there." "He's safe to be there, my lad, because he's house surgeon to the infirmary, and they do say he's a very clever one."
- 2023 May 3 [????], William Hamilton Maxwell, Erin-go-Bragh: Vol. I, BoD – Books on Demand, →ISBN, page 318:
- "He's safe to be hanged, an' that, all in an' out, when they recovred there senses an' ther tongue, offert to make affidavid on, if they were askt upon oath."
- Cautious.
- (programming) Of a programming language, type-safe or more generally offering well-defined behavior despite programming errors.
Antonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
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providing protection from danger
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baseball: in the base
properly secured
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not in danger from a specified source of harm
slang: wicked, cool, awesome
reliable
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cautious
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
[edit]safe (plural safes)
- A box, usually made of metal, in which valuables can be locked for safekeeping.
- 1992, Shashi Tharoor, Show Business: A Novel, page 144:
- The small-timers, as he put it, kept their currency in their homes, in safes, in false ceilings, under beds. When necessary, our tax people know where to look. The big-timers, however, use Swiss banks.
- (slang) A condom.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:condom
- 1989 August 19, Gerard L. Ready, “Possessing A Condom Is An Offense!”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 6, page 4:
- Condoms ARE available, on the underground market, at the outrageous price of ten dollars a piece! Now, I do not mind paying ten bucks for a good piece, as well as some peace of mind, but even the mere possession of these 'safes' is a disciplinary offense!
- 1999, Rita Ciresi, Pink Slip, Delta, published 1999, →ISBN, page 328:
- She'd better have an arsenal of Trojans in her purse just in case he wasn't carrying a safe in his back pocket.
- (dated) A ventilated or refrigerated chest or closet for securing provisions from noxious animals or insects.
- 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 29:
- The other room was a kitchen, with an open fireplace, a safe, a dresser and a tin sink, with a tap from the tank outside.
- (dated, colloquial) A safety bicycle.
Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]box in which valuables can be locked for safekeeping
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Verb
[edit]safe (third-person singular simple present safes, present participle safing, simple past and past participle safed)
- (transitive) To make something safe.
- 2007, Rocky Raab, Mike Five Eight: Air War Over Cambodia: Air War Over Cambodia[5]:
- “It just trails behind the pylon until I land, then Cramer removes it when he safes the rocket pods. No evidence of anything when I taxi back inside the compound.”
- 2012, Erik Seedhouse, Interplanetary Outpost:
- One of the most important events after touchdown will be to safe the Dauntless, which will include purging the engines and shutting down the landing systems […]
Derived terms
[edit]Terms derived from safe (adjective, noun, verb)
- better safe than sorry
- binary safe
- biosafe
- childsafe
- Coolgardie safe
- covid-safe
- cybersafe
- dishwasher safe
- drop safe
- ensafe
- e-safe
- fail safe, fail-safe
- firesafe
- French safe
- gender-safe
- ice-safe
- in safe hands
- is this a safe space
- keep yourself safe
- letter of safe conduct
- match safe
- meat safe
- memory-safe
- microwave safe
- night safe
- nonsafe
- on the safe side
- pie safe
- play it safe
- play safe
- quantum-safe
- safe account scam
- safe and sound
- safe area
- safe as a kitten
- safe as a kitten in a basket
- safe as a kitten in a box
- safe as houses
- safe as the Bank of England
- safe bet
- safeblower
- safeblowing
- safebox
- safebreaker
- safebreaking
- safe-conduct
- safe conduct
- safecracker
- safe-cracker
- safecracking
- safe day
- safe-deposit
- safe-deposit box
- safeguard
- safe harbor
- safehaven
- safe haven
- safe hit
- safehold
- safehouse
- safe in the knowledge
- safeish
- safekeeping
- safelight
- safelike
- safelist
- safely
- safemaker
- safemaking
- safen
- safe navigation operator
- safeness
- safe pair of hands
- safe place
- safe pledge
- safe prime
- safe room
- safer sex
- safe seat
- safe sex
- safe space
- safe third country
- safe travels
- safe word
- safeword
- supersafe
- tape safe
- threadsafe
- type-safe
- ultrasafe
- vouchsafe
- websafe
- work-safe
See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “safe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “safe”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “safe”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
[edit]German
[edit]Etymology
[edit]English safe, originally borrowed in the context of safe sex (safer Sex, 1980s), later generalized.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]safe (strong nominative masculine singular safer, comparative safer, superlative am safesten)
- safe
- Synonym: sicher
- 2022 May 18, Leif Erik Sander, quotee, “Corona: Warum sich manche noch nicht angesteckt haben”, in Der Spiegel[6], →ISSN, archived from the original on 7 January 2026:
- Dass man Corona bisher nicht hatte, heißt nicht, dass man für alle Zeit safe ist.
- Just because someone hasn't had corona yet doesn't mean that they're safe forever.
Declension
[edit]Adverb
[edit]safe
- (youth slang) definitely, absolutely, sure
- Synonyms: sicher, auf jeden Fall, bestimmt
- "Willst du 'nen Film gucken?" -"Safe!" ― "Wanna watch a movie?" -"Sure!"
- Ich werde es safe vergessen. ― I'll definitely forget it.
Related terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “safe”, in Online-Wortschatz-Informationssystem Deutsch (in German), Mannheim: Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, 2008–
Hausa
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adverb
[edit]sāfe
- in the morning
Middle English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Adjective
[edit]safe
- alternative form of sauf
Preposition
[edit]safe
- alternative form of sauf
Conjunction
[edit]safe
- alternative form of sauf
Etymology 2
[edit]Verb
[edit]safe
- (Norfolk, North Riding, West Riding) alternative form of saven
Portuguese
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]
Verb
[edit]safe
- inflection of safar:
Romanian
[edit]Noun
[edit]safe n (plural safeuri)
- alternative form of seif
Declension
[edit]| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative-accusative | safe | safeul | safeuri | safeurile |
| genitive-dative | safe | safeului | safeuri | safeurilor |
| vocative | safeule | safeurilor | ||
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *solh₂-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪf
- Rhymes:English/eɪf/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Baseball
- en:Snooker
- British English
- English slang
- en:Law
- English terms with collocations
- en:Programming
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English dated terms
- English colloquialisms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Containers
- German terms borrowed from English
- German terms derived from English
- German 1-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German 2-syllable words
- German lemmas
- German adjectives
- German terms with quotations
- German adverbs
- German slang
- German terms with usage examples
- Hausa terms with IPA pronunciation
- Hausa lemmas
- Hausa adverbs
- Middle English variant lemmas
- Norfolk Middle English
- North Riding Middle English
- West Riding Middle English
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Portuguese/afi
- Rhymes:Portuguese/afi/2 syllables
- Rhymes:Portuguese/afɨ
- Rhymes:Portuguese/afɨ/2 syllables
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
