seul (French)

Where does "seul" come from?

The French adjective 'seul', meaning 'alone', 'lonely', 'only', or 'single', is inherited from the Latin word 'sōlus'[1]. This Latin term traces back to a Proto-Indo-European reflexive stem, '*swé', through various proposed derivations relating to being by oneself[2].

Open questions

• The Latin form solus is often derived from earlier swolos and Proto-Italic swelos, but alternative etymologies connect it to solha or Proto-Germanic seliz. [2]

Full etymology tree

• seul (French), 'lonely'
  • inherited solus (Latin), 'alone, sole, only, by oneself with no others around'
    • derived *swolos (Proto-Italic)
      • derived *swelos (Proto-Italic)
        • derived *swé (Proto-Indo-European), 'self (reflexive pronoun)'
        • suffix *-los (Proto-Indo-European)

Ancestors

• solus (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

• solo (French)

Descendants and derived words

• d'une seule traite (French)
• faire cavalier seul (French)
• seul à seul (French)
• seulement (French)
• tout seul (French)
• tout seul (French)
• un malheur ne vient jamais seul (French)

Sources

1. seul (French) - Wiktionary
2. solus (Latin) - Wiktionary
3. swé (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris