The term ikigai compounds two Japanese words: iki (生き) meaning "life; alive" and kai (甲斐) meaning "(an) effect; (a) result; (a) fruit; (a) worth; (a) use; (a) benefit; (no, little) avail" (sequentially voiced as gai) to arrive at "a reason for living [being alive]; a meaning for [to] life; what [something that] makes life worth living; a raison d'etre".[3]