lived

A Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at life, -ed³

Lived, meaning “having a certain kind or extent of life,” is not derived from the preterit and past participle of the verb live [liv], /lɪv/, but from the noun life [lahyf], /laɪf/, to which the suffix -ed has been added. The original pronunciation, therefore, and one still heard, is [lahyvd], /laɪvd/, which retains the vowel (ī) of life. Since the f of life changes to v with the addition of this suffix, as when leaf becomes leaved, this lived is identical in spelling with the preterit and past participle lived, and conflation of the two has led to the increasingly frequent pronunciation of this lived as [livd] /lɪvd/ in such combinations as long-lived and short-lived. Both pronunciations are considered standard.