salve
Spanish, interjection
salve is spelled S-A-L-V-E (5 letters) and appears 4.7 times per million words in written Spanish, the 12,540th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Salve is a Spanish interjection meaning “hello, hail” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present subjunctive of salvar. With an accent, salvé is a different word: “first-person singular preterite indicative of salvar”. The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Hola (saludo)”.
What does salve mean in English?
interjection
- 1
hello, hail
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- 2
third-person singular imperative
verb
- 1
first-person singular preterite indicative of salvar
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
interjection: 1. Hola (saludo).
noun: 1. Oración dedicada a la Virgen, que generalmente comienza con las palabras "Salve, regina" ("Dios te salve, reina"). 2. Música que acompaña a la salve.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of salve
- salves plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is salve in Spanish?
salve appears 4.7 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).