Lived, meaning “having a certain kind or extent of life,” is not derived from the preterit and past participle of the verb live , but from the noun life , to which the suffix -ed has been added. The original pronunciation, therefore, and one still heard, is , 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 in such combinations as long-lived and short-lived. Both pronunciations are considered standard.
A Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at life, -ed 3
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The architects of a failed colonial policy operated in a corrupt political culture, but lived during a golden age of British portraiture.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026
The crocodile lived between 3.4 million and 3 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia, during the same period and in the same region inhabited by Lucy and her species, Australopithecus afarensis.
From Science Daily • Jun. 13, 2026
The fossil's anatomy suggests it lived in much the same way.
From Science Daily • Jun. 12, 2026
Peter Douthwaite, headteacher at George Stephenson High School, where Turnbull had previously been a pupil, said she was a "much-loved former student" who "lived a life of service".
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
He strode from room to room, pointing everywhere to evidence that more than three people lived in the house.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
