survive

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /səˈvaɪv/, US /sɚˈvaɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English surviven,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman survivre, Old French sourvivre,^[4][5] from Late Latin supervīvere (“to live beyond, outlive”),^[4][2] from super “over, beyond” and vīvere “to live”,^[4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *gwei- (“to live”).^[4] Barnhart suggests it was partly a back-formation from the earlier legal term survivor (1425).^[2] It is related to revive, vivid and quick.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To continue to live after another's death, especially in the legal sense of inheritance: 1473 in the OED and Barnhart, in the Rolls of Parliament;^[8][2] implied in surviving from the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

To remain alive after another person's death is from 1572, and after an event or danger from 1588.^[8] To continue to exist after something has ended is from 1593.^[8] In law, of an estate passing to the survivors, it is from 1648.^[8] The trivial I'll survive is from 1902.^[8] Survival is from 1598, in Chapman's Homer,^[2] and the survival of the fittest was coined by Herbert Spencer in his Principles of Biology (1865).^[7]

Timeline

• 1425 – survivor, in law.^[2]
• 1473 – to live on after another's death.^[8][2]
• 1572 – to outlive someone.^[8]
• 1588 – to come through an event alive.^[8]
• 1598 – survival.^[2]
• 1865 – survival of the fittest.^[7]
• 1902 – I'll survive.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To continue to live or exist, especially after a danger or difficulty.
2. To live through an accident, war or illness.
3. To live longer than someone; to outlive.
4. To manage to cope with a difficult situation.

Word family

• survivor
• survivable
• surviver
• unsurvived
• unsurviving

Related words

• convive
• revive
• survival
• vivid
• vital

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press