*leip-

The original idea of this root was:

sticking, adhering, fatty substance

It’s still somewhat visible in the German word bleiben (to stay) but there’s another family member that isn’t very intuitive: life or leben in German.
The origin of this meaning is probably a notion of continuance, existence.  We typically see life as something that ends. But at by the same token, it is then “life” as long as it has not ended, as long as it sticks around.
I think one could go down a philosophy rabbit hole about this :)