survivency

Noun

survival (countable and uncountable, plural survivals)

1. The fact or act of surviving; continued existence or life.
   • His survival in the open ocean was a miracle; he had fully expected to die.
2. Of, relating to or aiding survival.
   • persecution survival plan
3. The avoidance of relegation or demotion to a lower league or division.
   • […] a team that have turned snatching relegation from the jaws of top-flight survival into an art form […]2000, Dan Goldstein, The Rough Guide to English Football: A Fans' Handbook 2000-2001
4. A custom or belief that persists in folklore from earlier times, when the rationale behind it is forgotten.
   • Thus, if some old rhyme or saying has in one place a solemn import in philosophy or religion, while elsewhere it lies at the level of the nursery, there is some ground for treating the serious version as the more original, and the playful one as its mere lingering survival.1871, Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, language, art, and custom^([IA]), Volume 1, chapter 3: "Survival in culture", page 78