Etymologically
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living

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 13:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈlɪv.ɪŋ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English live + -ing,[2][3][4] as the present participle used as an adjective and as the verbal noun.[3][4] It replaced Old English lifende (“living, having life”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alive, not dead; also “residing, staying”: about 1200 according to Etymonline,[2] while the Shorter Oxford takes the adjective back to Old English.[3] The noun “living persons” is late Old English.[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun meant “the fact of dwelling in some place” from the early 14th century, “a manner of life” from the mid-14th, and “a means of earning one's livelihood” from about 1400.[2] Living water, constantly flowing, is a biblical idiom of the late 14th century, and living rock, stone in its natural place, follows Latin vīvus.[2] A living language is one still spoken, from 1657.[5] The living dead had various figurative senses from the early 18th century, was used of people revived after death from 1919, and of zombies and vampires from 1971.[2]

Timeline

  • late Old English – noun, the living.[2]
  • c. 1200 – adjective, alive.[2]
  • early 14th century – dwelling.[2]
  • c. 1400 – a livelihood.[2]
  • 1657 – living language.[5]
  • 1971 – the living dead, zombies.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having life; alive.
  2. Still in active use: a living language.
  3. Of people now alive: in living memory.
  4. Full of life or vitality.
  5. True to life; realistic.

Noun

  1. The condition or action of maintaining life.
  2. A manner of life: healthy living.
  3. A means of earning enough to live on; a livelihood.
  4. (chiefly British) A church benefice.

Word family

  • livingness
  • livingly
  • unliving
  • clean-living
  • free-living
  • living death
  • living room
  • living will
  • live
  • life
  • alive
  • livelihood
  • lively

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary groups living, alive and live as words for organisms that are not dead, beside animate and vital.[6]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin