a means of supporting one's existence, esp. financially or vocationally; living: to earn a livelihood as a tenant farmer.
Origin: bef. 1000; earlier liveliod, livelihod, alter. (by reanalysis as lively+ hood; cf. obs. livelihood liveliness) of ME livelod, OE līflād conduct of life, way of life (see life, lode, load)
live·li·hood (līv'lē-hŏŏd') n. Means of support; subsistence.
[Middle English livelyhed, alteration (influenced by liflihed, liveliness, energy, vigor) of livelode, from Old English līflād : līf, life; see life + lād, course; see leit- in Indo-European roots.]
c.1300, livelode "means of keeping alive," from O.E. lifad "course of life," from lif "life" + lad "way, course" (see load). Spelling assimilated 16c. to words in -hood. Earlier livelihood was a different word, meaning "liveliness."