Etymograph

English

life

Life comes from Middle English lyf, from Old English līf, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *lībą.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lībą1‘life’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*līb1‘body’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150līf1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lyf1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588life1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English life
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “My bloodleſſe bodie waxeth chill and colde, And with…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lībąWiktionary, English life‘life’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lībWiktionary, English life‘body’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150līfWiktionary, English life
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lyfWiktionary, English life
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588lifeWiktionary, English life. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “My bloodleſſe bodie waxeth chill and colde, And with…”

The story

The sense "biography" is likely a semantic loan from Medieval Latin vīta (‘biography; hagiography’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with life, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *leyp- ‘to stick, glue’

  • live ← lefe ← libban ← *libbjan ← *libjaną
  • living ← livynge ← lifiġende ← *libbjandī ← *libjandz
  • eleventh ← elleventhe ← elleven ← endleofan ← *ainalifun
  • lib ← lyven ← libban ← *libbjan ← *libjaną
  • lipid ← lipide ← λῐ́πος ← *lípos
  • lipa ← *léiˀpāˀ

through Proto-Germanic *lībaną ‘to remain, stay, be left’

  • leave ← leven ← lǣfan ← *laibijan ← *laibijaną
  • twelve ← twelf ← *twalif ← *twai
  • eleven ← elleven ← endleofan ← *ainalifun ← *ainalif
  • lave ← lafe ← lāf ← *laibu ← *laibō

through Old English līf

  • alive ← alyve ← on līfe
  • lively ← lyvely ← līflīċe

28 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “life”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *lībą / life