Conservation

How to spell conservation

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce conservation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does conservation mean?

1. nounThe careful protection and management of natural resources, wildlife, or valuable objects to prevent loss or damage.
2. nounIn physics, the principle that a measurable quantity such as energy or momentum stays constant within a closed system.

Conservation in a sentence

• The charity funds wildlife conservation across the national park.

• The lesson explained the conservation of energy using a swinging pendulum.

• The museum hired a specialist in the conservation of old manuscripts.

• The law of conservation of momentum governs how the two carts collide.

Where does conservation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb conservare, meaning 'to keep safe' or 'to preserve', formed from the intensifying prefix con- and the verb servare, which meant 'to keep, guard, or watch over'. The Latin noun conservatio described the act of keeping something intact, and English took it in through Old French as 'conservation' in the late 1300s. For centuries it simply meant the careful preservation of anything valuable, from health to documents. The familiar modern senses are newer: physicists adopted it in the 1800s for the principle that quantities like energy are kept constant, and the environmental sense, protecting wildlife and natural resources, gained ground in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The same servare root sits inside relatives such as 'preserve', 'reserve', and 'conserve', which is a useful reminder that the middle of the word is spelled serv, not surv.

How the word is built

• con- (together, thoroughly)
• serv (keep, guard, from Latin servare)
• -ation (noun-forming suffix)