Etymology

life

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Today it means: The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living. Full definition →

First used 1860s–1930s or laterMiddle English lyf ← Old English līf ← Proto-West Germanic *līb
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life · noun, verb, interjection1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*leyp-
  2. Proto-Germanic*lībaną
  3. Proto-Germanic*lībą
  4. Proto-West Germanic*līb
  5. Old Englishlīf
  6. Middle Englishlyf
  7. English todaylife

From Middle English lyf, from Old English līf, from Proto-West Germanic *līb, from Proto-Germanic *lībą (“life, body”), from *lībaną (“to remain, stay, be left”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick, glue”). Cognate with Scots life, leif (“life”), Saterland Frisian Lieuw (“body”), West Frisian liif (“body”), Cimbrian laip (“body”), Dutch lijf (“body”) and leven (“life”), German Leib (“body; womb”) and Leben (“life”), Low German Lief (“body; life”), Luxembourgish Leif, Läif (“body”), Vilamovian łaowa (“life”), Yiddish לײַב (layb, “body”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish liv (“life; waist”), Faroese lív (“life”), Icelandic líf (“life”). Related to belive. The sense "biography" is likely a semantic loan from Medieval Latin vīta (“biography; hagiography”).

Life · proper noun2

Variant of Leaf.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*leyp- all →

liveleavedelaylivertwelveelevenbelivelave

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1860s–1930s or later A chance for the batter (or batting team) to bat again, given as a result of a misplay by a member of the fielding team.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.