Livel

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An old spelling of an adjective describing someone or something full of vigor, spirit and animation
2. Archaic term for being brisk, active and full of spirited energy rather than dull or sluggish
3. Dated word meaning vigorous, sprightly and bursting with life in manner or appearance

Etymology: Old English had "līflīc," built from "līf" (life) and "-līc," the suffix meaning "-like" that also appears in "godly" and "friendly." Its original sense was "life-like" or "belonging to life," and it was used of things that were alive rather than of things that were energetic. The meaning of brisk, spirited animation came later. Over Middle English the "f" softened to a "v" between vowels, and the spelling settled into the form we use now. Medieval writers still used it in its older sense of "living" or "alive." The "-ly" ending is the same "-like" suffix found in "lovely," which literally meant "having the qualities of love," so the two words share a grammatical history as well as a letter pattern.