Lively

How to spell lively

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce lively

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lively mean?

1. adjectiveFull of energy and enthusiasm; animated and active.

Lively in a sentence

• The party stayed lively well past midnight.

• She gave a lively account of her trip abroad.

Where does lively come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English liflic, which was built from lif, meaning 'life', and the suffix -lic, which signalled the quality of something, much as the modern -ly does. The literal sense was therefore 'full of life' or 'living', and from there it broadened to describe anything brisk, energetic, or animated. The spelling trap sits in the middle: although it grows directly from the noun 'life', the final 'e' is dropped before the -ly ending, giving 'lively' rather than 'lifely'. The same pattern of dropping the 'e' shows up in relatives such as 'truly' from 'true'. The word has been in continuous English use for over a thousand years, and the meaning has stayed remarkably close to its original 'having life' since Anglo-Saxon times.

How the word is built

• life (Old English lif: life, animation)
• -ly (adjective suffix meaning 'having the quality of')