Solitaire was borrowed from French solitaire ('solitary, a recluse'), from Latin sōlitārius ('alone, solitary'), from sōlus ('alone'). The card-game and single-gem senses reflect the notion of a single element set apart. The historical chain includes French solitaire, Latin sōlitārius, and Latin sōlus. The quoted older senses, "solitary, a recluse", "alone, solitary", and "alone", supply the semantic anchors for solitaire. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word solitaire carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a single-player card game, or a single gem set alone". Related English forms include solitary, solitude, and sole. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.