Longevity

How to spell longevity

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce longevity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does longevity mean?

1. nounLong life, or the length of time something lives, lasts, or continues to function.

Longevity in a sentence

• The family is known for its remarkable longevity, with several relatives living past ninety.

• Engineers tested the battery for longevity under heavy daily use.

Where does longevity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin longaevitas, meaning 'great age' or 'long life', which was built from longaevus, an adjective describing someone or something that is aged or long-lived. That adjective combined longus, the ordinary Latin word for 'long', with aevum, meaning 'age' or 'lifetime', the same root that gives us 'eternal' and 'medieval' through aevum's relatives. English adopted the word in the early 1600s, at first chiefly to mean simply a long duration of life. Over time it broadened to cover the working life of objects and the staying power of institutions as well as people. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the 'aevum' root has been worn down to a plain -ev-, so writers must remember it is longevity, not 'longe-' with a wandering vowel.

How the word is built

• long- (from Latin longus: long)
• -ev- (from aevum: age, lifetime)
• -ity (noun suffix)