# subsistence

> English word · Noun · IPA /səbˈsɪstəns/ · frequency rank #25,225

## Definitions
1. Real being; existence.
2. The act of maintaining oneself at a minimum level.
3. Inherency.
4. Something (food, water, money, etc.) that is required to stay alive.
5. Embodiment or personification or hypostasis of an underlying principle or quality.

## Etymology
From Middle English subsistence; partly from Middle French subsistence (modern French subsistance) and partly from its etymon Late Latin subsistentia (“substance, reality, in Medieval Latin also stability”), from Latin subsistēns, present participle of subsistere (“to continue, subsist”). Perhaps also partly from subsist + -ence.

## Easily confused with
- **subsidence** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/subsidence-vs-subsistence)

## Common misspellings (18)
`sbusistence`, `ssubsistence`, `subbsistence`, `subisstence`, `subsisetnce`, `subsisstence`, `subsistance`, `subsistecne`, `subsistencce`, `subsistenec`, `subsistennce`, `subsistnece`, `subsisttence`, `subsitsence`, `subssistence`, `subssitence`, `susbistence`, `usbsistence`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/subsistence