From Proto-Slavic (compare Bulgarian and Russian живот(život), Czech, Slovak, and Serbo-Croatian život), probably from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European*gʷih₃wo-teh₂ (compare Lithuanian gyvatà(“life”), Sanskrit जीवित(jīvitá), Avestan gayo (accusative ǰyātum) "life"), Ancient Greek bíotos, Latin vīta, Old Irish bethu, bethad, Welsh bywyd), ultimately from *gʷeih₃w-(“to live”), compare *gʷih₃wós(“alive”). Related to жити(žiti, “to live”).