make a living

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (Mid-Atlantic)

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Verb

make a living (third-person singular simple present makes a living, present participle making a living, simple past and past participle made a living)

1. To earn enough income to support oneself and, if applicable, one's family.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:make a living

   • 1972 March 14, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather, spoken by Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), Paramount Pictures:

     You found paradise in America. You had a good trade, made a good living.

2. (of animals) To manage to find enough food to survive.

Translations

earn enough income

• Arabic: اِرْتَزَقَ (irtazaqa)
• Catalan: guanyar-se la vida (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 搵食／揾食 (wan² sik⁶)

  Mandarin: 過活／过活 (zh) (guòhuó), 營生／营生 (zh) (yíngshēng), 謀生／谋生 (zh) (móushēng), 糊口 (zh) (húkǒu), 混飯吃／混饭吃 (zh) (hùnfànchī)

• Czech: uživit se
• Dutch: zich in zijn levensonderhoud voorzien
• Finnish: tulla toimeen (fi), ansaita elantonsa
• French: gagner sa vie (fr)
• German: sich seinen Lebensunterhalt verdienen (sich in dative case)
• Greek: βγάζω το ψωμί μου (vgázo to psomí mou)
• Hungarian: él (hu) (with -ból/-ből), megél (hu)
• Icelandic: komast af
• Italian: guadagnarsi da vivere
• Japanese: 生計を立てる (seikei o tateru), 食べていく (tabete iku), 暮らしを立てる (kurashi o tateru)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: mereo
• Polish: zarabiać na życie
• Portuguese: ganhar a vida
• Romanian: a-și câștiga existența, a-și câștiga traiul
• Russian: зараба́тывать на жизнь impf (zarabátyvatʹ na žiznʹ), зарабо́тать на жизнь pf (zarabótatʹ na žiznʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: thoir aran
• Slovak: uživiť sa
• Spanish: ganarse la vida (es), ganarse las lentejas, ganarse las habichuelas, ganarse los garbanzos
• Swedish: försörja sig, tjäna sitt levebröd
• Thai: ทำมาหากิน (th) (tam-maa-hǎa-gin)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: kiếm sống