longevity

English

Alternative forms

• longævity (archaic)

Etymology

Early 17th century, learned borrowing from Latin longaevitās, from longaevus (“ancient, aged”) +‎ -itās. The first part is related with English long and this association led to the alternative pronunciation with /ŋ/.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lɒnˈd͡ʒɛv.ɪ.ti/, /lɒŋ-/

  • Audio (Southern England); /lɒnˈd͡ʒɛv.ɪ.ti/:

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England); /lɒŋˈd͡ʒɛv.ɪ.ti/:

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /lɑnˈd͡ʒɛv.ə.ti/, /lɔn-/, /lɔŋ-/, [ɫɑ̃nˈd͡ʒɛv.ə.ɾi], [ɫɔ̃n-], [ɫɔ̃ŋ-]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /lɔŋˈd͡ʒev.ə.ti/, [lɔŋˈd͡ʒev.ə.ɾi]

Noun

longevity (countable and uncountable, plural longevities)

1. The quality of being long-lasting, especially of life.

   Grandpa had incredible longevity: he lived to be 105 years old!

   • 2020 July 1, David Allen, “Signalling from Leeds along the S&C”, in Rail, page 74:

     This 142-year-old tiny ex-LNWR SB [signal box, at Batley] is an amazing survivor, probably owing its longevity to its location alongside a level crossing. Indeed it started life as a gate box with the delightful name of Lady Ann's Crossing.

2. Duration over time; persistence.
   • 2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 255:

     A ‘postdating’ is an example of the use of a lexical item at a later date than currently recorded and these are important in establishing the longevity of use of a term and whether or not it has become obsolete.

Synonyms

• permanence

Derived terms

• longevity noodle
• longevity peach
• shortgevity

 

Related terms

• longevous

Translations

the quality of being long-lasting, especially of life

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: даўгале́цце n (daŭhaljéccje)
• Bulgarian: дълголетие (bg) n (dǎlgoletie)
• Catalan: longevitat f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長壽 / 长寿 (zh) (chángshòu)

• Czech: dlouhověkost (cs) f
• Dutch: levensduur (nl) m
• Esperanto: longviveco
• Estonian: pikaealisus
• Finnish: pitkäikäisyys (fi)
• French: longévité (fr) f
• Galician: lonxevidade (gl) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Langlebigkeit (de) f, lange Lebensdauer (de) f
• Greek: μακροζωία (el) f (makrozoḯa)

  Ancient: μακροβίωσις f (makrobíōsis)

• Hungarian: hosszú élet
• Indonesian: panjang umur (id)
• Irish: buaine f, fadsaolaí f
• Italian: longevità (it)
• Japanese: 寿命 (ja) (じゅみょう, jumyō), 長寿 (ja) (ちょうじゅ, chōju), 不老不死 (ja) (ふろうふし, furōfushi)
• Khmer: អាយុវែង (ʼaayuʼ vɛɛng), ទីឃាយុភាព (tiikhiəyuphiəp)
• Korean: 장수(長壽) (ko) (jangsu)
• Latin: longaevitās f
• Maori: mauriroa
• Mizo: damreina, daihreina, tlona
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: długowieczność (pl) f
• Portuguese: longevidade f
• Romanian: longevitate (ro) f
• Russian: долголе́тие (ru) n (dolgolétije), долгожи́тельство (ru) n (dolgožítelʹstvo)
• Spanish: longevidad (es) f
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: ཚེ་རིང་པོ (tshe ring po)
• Turkish: uzun ömürlülük
• Ukrainian: довголі́ття n (dovholíttja), довгожи́тельство n (dovhožýtelʹstvo)
• Vietnamese: sự sống lâu, tuổi thọ cao
• Welsh: hirhoedledd m

References

• “longevity”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.