Suave
/swɑːv/noun
Smooth, gracious, and pleasantly polished in manner or style.
Did you know?Suave comes through Spanish and French from Latin suavis, meaning “sweet” or “pleasant,” and it shares a deep ancient root with words like sweet and even the old idea of sensory pleasure as something spiritually powerful.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*swād-
“sweet, pleasant”
Latin
Latin
suāvis
“sweet, pleasing, agreeable”
Old French
Old French
suave
“pleasant, sweet, agreeable”
Late Middle English
English
suave
“agreeable, blandly pleasant”
Modern English
English
suave
“smooth, polished, and charming in manner”