Learn English – Pronunciation of “Short-lived”

pronunciation

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.

Best Answer

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.)

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