lifetime English · revision 5550

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 1220}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈlaɪf.taɪm/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English liftime, formed from [[life]] and [[time]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The duration of one's life: about 1220 in the OED, the early 13th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was often written as two words or hyphenated, and as one word from the 19th century.^(Etymonline) For a person's span of life Middle English writers also used lifeday (Old English lifdæg), lifewhile and lifesith “life-journey”.^(Etymonline) The adjective use, as in ''a lifetime ban'', is from 1834 in MWU.^(MWU 2024) The period during which a thing exists or works is a later sense,^(AHD) and in physics the average life of an unstable particle or state is a technical one.^(Collins 2023) Colloquially a lifetime is a very long time, and ''the chance of a lifetime'' one that comes only once.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1220 – the duration of one's life.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1834 – as a modifier.^(MWU 2024)

+ * 19th century – written as one word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The length of time a person or animal is [[alive]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The length of time that something exists or works.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' A very long time.^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''(physics)'' The average time an unstable particle or state exists.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[life]]

+ * [[time]]

+ * [[lifelong]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}