means To keep something safe from harm, decay, or change — or, as a noun, a place set aside for protection or a jar of fruit kept in sugar.

from From Latin praeservare, 'to guard beforehand' — prae- ('before') plus servare ('to keep, watch over, protect'). That servare also gives us 'conserve,' 'reserve,' and 'observe,' all variations on the act of watching and keeping. The word reached English through Old French in the late Middle Ages, first in the sense of guarding from harm; the sweet jam meaning and the protected-wildlife meaning both grew later from the same root idea — holding something out of time's reach.