Lifelong

How to spell lifelong

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce lifelong

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lifelong mean?

1. adjectiveLasting or continuing throughout a person's entire life.

Lifelong in a sentence

• Reading was a lifelong habit that she traced back to childhood.

• The two neighbours became lifelong friends after meeting at university.

Where does lifelong come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound, formed simply by joining 'life' and 'long', both of which descend from Old English roots: 'lif' meant existence or the period of being alive, while 'lang' meant extended in time or space. The same pairing pattern that gives us 'daylong' and 'yearlong' lies behind 'lifelong', the sense being something that stretches across the whole span of a life. The word is relatively recent as a fixed compound, appearing in the early nineteenth century when writers began closing it up into a single unit. Because both halves are ordinary, familiar words, the only real spelling question is whether it is one word, two words, or hyphenated; modern usage settles firmly on the solid single word 'lifelong'. The doubled letter where 'life' meets 'long' is not present, so there is no awkward join, just the silent 'e' of 'life' kept intact in the middle.

How the word is built

• life (the period of being alive)
• long (lasting for the duration of)