longevity

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin longaevitās (“long duration, long life, old age”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} recorded from the 4th century,^[2] from Latin longaevus (“of great age, long-lived”), formed from longus (“long”) and aevum (“lifetime, age”),^{[3][4][5][8][9]} with the suffix -tās, English -ity.^[2][6] Aevum comes from Proto-Indo-European *aiw- (“vital force, life; long life, eternity”).^[3][5] The word is related to long, age, aeon, coeval and primeval.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person or animal, long life, or the length of a life: 1569, in T. Newton's translation of Cicero's book on old age, according to the revised OED.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the first record to 1615,^[4][9] and Etymonline to the 1610s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

For two centuries the word was used of living beings: Johnson (1755) defined it as "length of life" and quoted Ray's Creation on the longevity of the natives of healthy countries.^[10][2] From 1842 it was applied to things, for their long duration or working life,^[2] while from 1905 to length of service in a post.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1569 – long life, length of life, in T. Newton.^[2]
• 1615 – first record according to Barnhart and Merriam-Webster.^[4][9]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as "length of life".^[10]
• 1842 – long duration of a thing.^[2]
• 1905 – length of service.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Long life: The village is known for the longevity of its residents.^[11][9][2]
2. The length of a life; lifespan: research into the longevity of bats.^[9][2]
3. Long duration of a thing; also the length of time something lasts or works.^[2][9][7]
4. Length of service in a job or position.^[11][2]

Word family

• longevous

Related words

• long
• aeon
• coeval
• primeval
• age

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins