# safe

> English word · Adjective · IPA /seɪf/ · frequency rank #914

## Definitions
1. Not in danger; out of harm's reach.
2. Free from risk.
3. Providing protection from danger; providing shelter.
4. When a batter successfully reaches first base, or when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base or returns to the base he last occupied; not out.
5. In a location that renders it difficult to pot.
6. Properly secured.
7. Not susceptible to a specified source of harm.
8. Great, cool, awesome, respectable; a term of approbation, often as interjection.
9. Supported by evidence and unlikely to be overturned. Usually used in the negative, as unsafe.
10. Lenient, usually describing a teacher that is easy-going.
11. Reliable; trusty.
12. Certain; sure.
13. Cautious.
14. Of a programming language, type-safe or more generally offering well-defined behavior despite programming errors.

## Etymology
From Middle English sauf, safe, saf, saaf, from Old French sauf, saulf, salf (“safe”), from Latin salvus (“whole, safe”), from Proto-Italic *salwos, from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole, every”).
Displaced native Old English sicor (secure, sure).

## Easily confused with
- **se** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-se)
- **sf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sf)
- **she** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-she)
- **see** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-see)
- **say** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-say)
- **saw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-saw)
- **san** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-san)
- **Sam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sam)
- **sat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sat)
- **sue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sue)
- **sap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sap)
- **sal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sal)
- **SAS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sas)
- **Sao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sao)
- **sai** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sai)
- **sag** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sag)
- **Sar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sar)
- **sax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sax)
- **sie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sie)
- **SME** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/safe-vs-sme)

## Common misspellings (5)
`asfe`, `saef`, `saffe`, `sfae`, `ssafe`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/safe