living

Compared meaning: alive, having life (adjective).

比较义项：活着的，有生命的（形容词）。

• live

  Describes animals, plants, or devices that are still alive or carrying power/activity (a live fish, a live wire); almost always placed before the noun and pronounced to rhyme with 'five', unlike the verb 'live'.

  用来形容仍然活着或仍在通电／运作的动物、植物或装置（如活鱼、带电的电线）；几乎总是放在名词前作定语，读音与“five”押韵，不同于动词 live（居住）。

  Never touch a live wire with wet hands.

  湿手时绝不要碰带电的电线。

• living 本词

  Describes a person or being who is still alive, especially in comparisons like 'the oldest living relative'; used mainly for people and organisms, not for inanimate objects.

  用来形容仍然在世的人或生物，尤其用于比较句，如“健在最年长的亲人”；主要用于人和生物，不用于无生命的物品。

  She is the oldest living relative in our family.

  她是我们家族里健在最年长的亲人。

Live and living both mean alive. Live describes animals, plants or powered devices, like a live wire, and is almost always placed before the noun. It rhymes with 'five'. Living describes a person or being still alive, as in 'the oldest living relative'.

live 常用来形容动物、植物或通电／运作中的物品（如 live wire 带电的电线），几乎总是放在名词前作定语，读音与“five”押韵，与动词 live（居住）不同；living 多用于人或生物，强调“仍然在世”，常见于 the oldest living relative 这类说法。这里不比较 live 作动词表示“居住”的意思，也不比较 living 作名词表示“生计”的意思。

Compared meaning: money earned to live on (noun).

比较义项：生计，维持生活所需的收入或方式（名词）。

• living 本词

  Living is the everyday, neutral word for the money or means of surviving, almost always used in the fixed phrase 'earn/make a living'; it does not specify the trade.

  living是日常、中性的说法，几乎总是出现在“earn/make a living”这个固定搭配里，泛指赖以生存的收入或方式，不指明具体行业。

  She makes a decent living as a freelance translator.

  她靠做自由译者挣得一份不错的生计。

• keep

  As a noun, keep appears almost only in the phrase 'earn one's keep', meaning the food, lodging and expenses someone provides in exchange for work, not wages earned elsewhere.

  keep作名词时几乎只出现在“earn one's keep”这个短语里，指别人为换取劳动而提供的食宿和生活费用，而不是在别处挣得的工资。

  The interns work long hours just to earn their keep at the farm.

  实习生在农场长时间工作，只是为了换取食宿。

• livelihood

  Livelihood is a more formal word naming the specific trade or source of income a person or community depends on, often used for occupations like farming or fishing.

  livelihood是更正式的说法，指个人或群体赖以维生的具体行业或收入来源，常用于务农、捕鱼等职业。

  Small-scale farming remains the main livelihood in this region.

  小规模务农仍是这个地区人们主要的生计来源。

Living, keep and livelihood all mean money earned to live. Living is common, used almost only in 'earn/make a living'. Keep, as a noun, appears mainly in 'earn one's keep', meaning food and lodging for work. Livelihood is formal, naming someone's trade.

这三个词在“挣得生活所需的钱或方式”这个意义上相近，但语域和搭配不同：living最常用、语域中性，几乎只出现在“earn/make a living”这个固定搭配里；keep作此义时几乎只用于“earn one's keep”这一固定短语，强调换取食宿而非工资；livelihood更正式，强调个人或群体赖以谋生的具体行业或收入来源。这里不比较keep作动词“保留，保持”的意思，也不比较living作形容词“活着的”的意思。