Reserved

How to spell reserved

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce reserved

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reserved mean?

1. adjectiveKept back or booked in advance for a particular person or purpose.
2. adjectiveRestrained in showing feelings or opinions; quiet and undemonstrative.

Reserved in a sentence

• The front row was reserved for family members of the bride.

• He was polite but reserved, rarely sharing his personal views at work.

• A parking space near the entrance is reserved for the manager.

• New colleagues found her reserved until they got to know her better.

Where does reserved come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb reservare, which combined the prefix re-, meaning 'back', with servare, meaning 'to keep, guard or save'. The literal sense was therefore 'to keep back' or 'to hold in store', the idea of setting something aside for later use. English took the word through Old French reserver in the 1300s, and the participle 'reserved' soon carried two threads: things that had been kept back or booked, and people who keep their feelings back rather than showing them. That same servare root sits inside 'preserve', 'conserve' and 'serve', which is a useful reminder that the middle is spelled serv, not surv. The trickiest trap is purely about sound: the unstressed first vowel is a faint 'ih' and the stressed 'er' tempts some writers toward an extra letter, but it stays a simple re-serv-ed.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• serv (from servare: to keep, guard)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)