lifetime

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈlaɪf.taɪm/ See IPA manual

Freq #3011

Meanings

1

noun
The length of time that someone is alive or that something exists or works.

She saw many changes during her lifetime.
2

noun
A very long time.

It felt like a lifetime waiting for the results.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the length of time that... lifespanlife

2 noun · a very long time. ages eternity

Word family

Forms lifetimes

Derived forms life-timeronce-in-a-lifetime

Appears in

Proverbs (2)

See all

Etymology

From Middle English lyftyme, equivalent to life + time. Cognate with Icelandic líftími (“lifetime”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Lieuwendstied, Dutch leeftijd and levenstijd, German Low German Levenstied, German Lebenszeit, Danish livstid, Swedish livstid.

lyftyme Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# lifetime

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈlaɪf.taɪm/
**Frequency rank:** 3011

## Meanings
1. The length of time that someone is alive or that something exists or works.
2. A very long time.

## Examples
- She saw many changes during her lifetime.
- It felt like a lifetime waiting for the results.

## Derived Forms
- life-timer
- once-in-a-lifetime

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: lyftyme

## Etymology
From Middle English lyftyme, equivalent to life + time. Cognate with Icelandic líftími (“lifetime”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Lieuwendstied, Dutch leeftijd and levenstijd, German Low German Levenstied, German Lebenszeit, Danish livstid, Swedish livstid.

## AI Etymology
Lifetime comes from Middle English lyftyme, equivalent to life + time. Cognate with Icelandic líftími (“lifetime”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Lieuwendstied, Dutch leeftijd and levenstijd, German Low German Levenstied, German Lebenszeit, Danish livstid, Swedish livstid. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix.

## Topics
- People & Society

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