Meaning

adjective possessing life

adjective (often followed by `with') full of life and spirit

adjective having life or vigor or spirit

originFrom Middle English alyve, alive, alife, olive, olife, on live, on life, from Old English on līfe (“alive”, literally “in life" or "in (the) body”), from on (“on, in”) + līfe, dative singular of līf (“life”). In this sense, replaced Old English cwic (whence English quick). Equivalent to a- + life. Compare Dutch in leven (“alive”, literally “in life”), German am Leben (“alive”, literally “at life"…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0