- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “life.”
- Gender: feminine
- Variant Transcriptions: Jeeva, Jeevana, Jeevika
- Pron: (JEE-vuh; JEE-vuh-nuh; JEE-vee-kuh)
All names are derived from the Sanskrit जीवा (life).
In Hinduism and Jainism, the term jiva is used to describe the soul.
Jiva can be unisex and was borne by the 4th-century (CE) Buddhist nun and sister of King Kucha as well as a 16th-century male Hindu philosopher and saint, Jiva Goswami.
Jiva ultimately derives from the Indo-European *gʷih₃wotós, which also produced the Latin vita (life), Lithuanian gyvatà (life) and Proto-Slavic *živòtъ (life). See Živa of the same etymology.
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