Pronunciation of “Short-lived”

Question

What is the correct way of pronouncing the i in "short-lived"?

Particularly, I'm looking for whether it's a short or long sound for this vowel. I've heard it both ways.

Answer 1

Both short and long i are acceptable. AHD gives the following usage note:

The pronunciation (-laɪvd) is etymologically correct since the compound is derived from the noun life, rather than from the verb live. But the pronunciation (-lɪvd) is by now so common that it cannot be considered an error. In the most recent survey 43 percent of the Usage Panel preferred (-lɪvd), 39 percent preferred (-laɪvd), and 18 percent found both pronunciations equally acceptable.

Wiktionary agrees with that usage. Other dictionaries (Wordnik, Dictionary.com) list both pronunciations without comment.

Personally, I almost always use the short i like in 'give'.

(I'd give the two pronunciations slightly different connotations, something like short-i = it was around for a short time and it's already dead/gone, long-i = it's still around but won't be for long.)

Answer 2

I checked a couple dictionaries which list both the long and short i as correct pronunciations. Anecdotally, I've typically heard the short i, and that's how I pronounce it.

Answer 3

Adding my $.02 after these many months:

I, for one, pronounce these expressions with a long i. My argument is that if something has a long life it is long-lived. The vocalization of the f sound to make it v doesn't mean we need to consider the word to be derived from the verb "live"; instead it is from the noun life. We don't use a short 8 when we we say a cat has nine lives, we use the long version.

Think of the parallel with knife. If someone is attacked with a sharp knife, you would say it was a "sharp-knived attack." If a cat truly had nine lives, it would be nine-lived (long i).

That said, I'm sure the other usage will eventually rid the world of us "long-lived" (with a long i) speakers, since we are only long-lived and not immortal.

Answer 4

I favor the long i version based on the progression short life, short "lifed", short-lifed, short-lived (laivd). My original thought was to compare this with such compounds as even-handed, long-winded, etc., but having read the comments favoring short-lived with a short i I am more ready to accept the short i as a reasonable variation.

Answer 5

I am not yet convinced of the long-I version. And, incidentally, the argument that long-lived is related to life doesn't wash for me. It may be related, but so is the simple word live, which has the long I as an adjective (as in "live bait" or a "live broadcast"), but short I as a verb ("We all live in this house."). If I live a long time, I am probably long-lived (short I).

The "knife" example doesn't help either, as this word always sports a long I (knife/knives/knifed/knived).