survivor

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /səˈvaɪ.və/, US /sɚˈvaɪ.vɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is an agent noun from survive, with the Latin-form ending -or.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, one of two or more persons, especially joint tenants, who outlives the other and takes the whole estate: 1503–4 in the OED, about 1500 in Etymonline.^[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, a person, animal or plant that outlives others or remains alive after an event, is from 1624.^[4] Survivor syndrome, the delayed distress of those who survive a disaster, is from 1968,^[4] and a person with a knack for coming through hardship unscathed from 1971.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1503–4 – a surviving joint tenant (law).^[4]
• 1624 – one who outlives others.^[4]
• 1968 – survivor syndrome.^[4]
• 1971 – one who copes with adversity.^[4][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person or thing that survives, especially someone who stays alive after an accident, war or illness.
2. A person who copes well with hardship.
3. (law) One of two or more joint owners who outlives the other and so inherits the whole property.

Word family

• nonsurvivor
• survivorship
• survivor guilt
• survivor syndrome

Related words

• survive
• survival
• vivid

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press