Living

How to spell living

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce living

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does living mean?

1. adjectiveHaving life; alive rather than dead.
2. nounThe means of earning enough money to support oneself; a livelihood.

Living in a sentence

• adjective

  The museum displays both fossils and living specimens.

• noun

  He earns a comfortable living as a freelance translator.

• adjective

  Every living creature in the pond depends on clean water.

• noun

  Farming was once the main living for families in this valley.

Where does living come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb libban, also written lifian, which meant 'to be alive' or 'to dwell', and which traces back to a Germanic root tied to the idea of remaining and continuing. The participial and noun forms ending in -ing were a natural Old English development, where -ing (earlier -ung) turned verbs into nouns describing the action or state. As an adjective, 'living' came to mean 'having life', while as a noun it took on the practical sense of the means by which a person sustains life, that is, their livelihood. The closely related noun 'life' and the verb 'live' share the same ancient root, which is why the spelling drops the final 'e' of 'live' before adding -ing rather than keeping it. The spelling is straightforward because the short 'i' sound matches the single 'v' and the regular -ing ending.

How the word is built

• live (root verb: to be alive)
• -ing (present participle / noun-forming suffix)