Salute

How to spell salute

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce salute

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does salute mean?

1. verbTo greet or show formal respect, especially by raising the hand in the military gesture.
2. nounA gesture or display of respect or greeting, such as a raised hand or a ceremonial firing of guns.

Salute in a sentence

• verb

  Recruits learn to salute any senior officer who passes.

• noun

  The soldier raised his hand in a crisp salute.

• verb

  The guards salute the visiting head of state at the gate.

• noun

  A twenty-one gun salute marked the ceremony.

Where does salute come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Salute comes from the Latin verb salutare, meaning 'to greet' or 'to wish good health to', which was built directly on salus, the Latin word for 'health, safety, or well-being'. The original idea was warmly social: to salute someone was literally to wish them sound health, much as we still do when we raise a glass and toast to someone. English took the word in during the 1300s, partly through Old French saluer, and it carried both the sense of a respectful greeting and, later, the formal military gesture of raising the hand. The same salus root survives in 'salutary' relatives like the adjective 'salubrious', meaning healthy, and in the Spanish toast 'salud'. Knowing the root is 'salus' (health) helps fix the single 'l' and the 'sal-' opening, rather than the doubled or 'sol-' forms writers sometimes slip into.

How the word is built

• salut- (from Latin salus: health, well-being)
• -e