## Meanings
1. To keep something safe and protect it from harm, loss, or damage.
2. To treat food so that it does not go bad.
3. An area of land set aside to protect wildlife or nature.
4. An activity or area treated as belonging to one person or group.

## Examples
- We must preserve these ancient buildings for future generations.
- You can preserve peaches by storing them in sugar syrup.
- The lions live freely inside the wildlife preserve.
- Medicine is no longer a male preserve.

## Derived Forms
- biopreserved
- cryopreserve
- lyopreserve
- mispreserve
- nonpreserved
- preservability
- preservable
- preservation
- preservingly
- unpreserved

## Related Forms
- preserver

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ser- (guard)
- Root: preserven
- Root: preserver

## Etymology
From Middle English preserven, from Old French preserver, from Medieval Latin prēservāre (“keep, preserve”), from Late Latin praeservāre (“guard beforehand”), from prae (“before”, adverb) + servāre (“maintain, keep”).

## AI Etymology
Preserve comes from Middle English preserven, from Old French preserver, from Medieval Latin prēservāre (“keep, preserve”), from Late Latin praeservāre (“guard beforehand”), from prae (“before”, adverb) + servāre (“maintain, keep”). In present-day English it covers to keep something safe and protect it from harm, loss, or damage, to treat food so that it does not go bad, and an area of land set aside to protect wildlife or nature. The wider family includes derived forms such as biopreserved, cryopreserve, lyopreserve, mispreserve, nonpreserved and related forms such as preserver.

## Topics
- Nature & Landscape
- Safety & Risk

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