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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

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English

light

/laɪt/
Electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range visible to the human eye (about 400–750 nanometers): visible light.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English light, liht, leoht, from Old English lēoht, from Proto-West Germanic *leuht, from Proto-Germanic *leuhtą, from Proto-Indo-European *lewktom, from the root *lewk- (“to shine”).

    Cognates

    * Scots licht (“light”)

    * Saterland Frisian Ljoacht, Lucht (“light”)

    * West Frisian ljocht (“light”)

    * Dutch licht (“light”)

    * German Licht (“light”)

    * German Low German Licht (“light”)

    * Limburgish Leech, Leet, Léït (“light”)

    * Luxembourgish Liicht (“light”)

    * Vilamovian łicht (“light”)

    * Yiddish ליכט (likht, “light”)

    * Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lys (“light”)

    * Elfdalian liuos (“light”)

    * Faroese and Icelandic ljós (“light”)

    * Norwegian Nynorsk ljos, ljus, lys (“light”)

    * Swedish ljus (“light”)

    * Latin lūx (“light”)

    * Russian луч (luč, “beam of light”)

    * Armenian լույս (luys, “light”)

    * Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white”)

    * Persian رُخش (roxš).

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English lighten, lihten, from Old English līehtan (“to light, to shine”), from Proto-Germanic *liuhtijaną, from *leuhtą + *-janą. Cognate with German leuchten (“to shine”).

    Etymology 3

    From Middle English light, liht, leoht, from Old English lēoht (“luminous, bright, light, clear, resplendent, renowned, beautiful”), from Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz (“light”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian ljoacht (“light”), Dutch licht, German licht.

    Etymology 4

    From Middle English liȝt, lyghte, from Old English lēht, lēoht, līht, from Proto-West Germanic *lį̄ht, from Proto-Germanic *linhtaz or *līhtaz (“light (in weight)”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“lightweight”).

    Cognates

    Cognate with Dutch licht (“light (not heavy)”), German leicht (“light (not heavy)”), Luxembourgish liicht (“lightweight”), Vilamovian łajcht (“easy”), Yiddish לײַכט (laykht, “light (of low weight)”), Danish let (“light (not heavy)”), Faroese lættur (“light (of weight); easy (to do)”), Icelandic léttur (“light (not weighing much); easy”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk lett (“light (not heavy); easy”), Swedish lätt (“light; of low weight”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (leihts, “light (in weight)”); also Irish léim (“jump, leap; obstacle to be jumped; chasm, promontory”), Scottish Gaelic leum, lèim (“bound, frisk, leap; jump”), Welsh llai (“smaller; fewer, less”), Latin levis (“light (not heavy)”), Greek ελαφρός (elafrós, “lightweight; slight, thin, weak”), Albanian lehtë (“lightweight; easy”), Lithuanian lengvas (“light (not heavy); easy”), Belarusian лёгкі (ljóhki, “light (not heavy); easy”), Bulgarian and Macedonian лек (lek, “light (not heavy)”), Czech lehký (“light (of low weight); easy”), Polish lekki, lętki (“light (having little physical weight); easy (not demanding much effort; not difficult)”), Russian лёгкий (ljóxkij, “lightweight; easy”), Serbo-Croatian ла̏к, ла̏ган, lȁk, lȁgan (“easy; light (not heavy)”), Slovak ľahký (“light (of low weight); easy”), Slovene lahek (“light (of low weight); easy”), Ukrainian легки́й (lehkýj, “lightweight”), Armenian լանջ (lanǰ), լանջք (lanǰkʻ, “breast; mountain slope”), Persian لاغر (lâġar, “lithe; skinny; slender; thin”), Tocharian B lankᵤtse (“light (not heavy)”), Sanskrit लघु (laghu), रघु (raghu, “easy, light, not heavy or difficult”).

    Etymology 5

    From Middle English lighten, from Old English līhtan (“to relieve”), from Proto-West Germanic *lį̄htijan, from Proto-Germanic *linhtijaną, from *linhtaz (“light”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishlight
      • inheritedOld Englishlēoht “luminous, bright, light, clear, resplendent, renowned, beautiful”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*leuht
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*leuhtaz “light”
    • rootProto-Indo-European*lewk- “light”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishlighten
      • inheritedOld Englishlīehtan “to light, to shine”
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*liuhtijaną
          • partProto-Germanic*leuhtą
          • partProto-Germanic*-janą
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*-yéti
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*-éyeti
              • derivedProto-Indo-European*-yeti
      • inheritedOld Englishlīhtan “to relieve”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*lį̄htijan
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*linhtijaną
    • inheritedMiddle Englishliȝt
      • inheritedOld Englishlēht
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*lį̄ht
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*linhtaz
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*h₁lengʷʰ- “lightweight”

    Related: Scots licht, Saterland Frisian Ljoacht, West Frisian ljocht, Dutch licht, German Licht, German Low German Licht, Limburgish Leech, Luxembourgish Liicht, Vilamovian łicht, Yiddish ליכט, da,nb lys, Elfdalian liuos, fo,is ljós, Norwegian Nynorsk ljos, Swedish ljus, Latin lūx, Russian луч, Armenian լույս, Ancient Greek λευκός, Persian رُخش, German leuchten, Saterland Frisian ljoacht, German licht

    Words built on it: light up, light out, light into, very-light, very light

    Meanings

    noun
    1. Electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range visible to the human eye (about 400–750 nanometers): visible light.
    2. Electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range visible to the human eye or in nearby ranges (infrared or ultraviolet radiation).
    3. Electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength.
    4. A source of illumination.
    5. A lightbulb or similar light-emitting device, regardless of whether it is lit.
    6. A traffic light, or (by extension) an intersection controlled by traffic lights.
    verb
    1. To start (a fire).
    2. To set fire to; to set burning.
    3. To illuminate; to provide light for when it is dark.
    4. To become ignited; to take fire.
    5. To attend or conduct with a light; to show the way to by means of a light.
    6. To make (a bonus) available to be collected by hitting a target, and thus light up the feature light corresponding to that bonus to indicate its availability.
    adj
    1. Having light; bright; clear; not dark or obscure.
    2. Pale or whitish in color; highly luminous and more or less deficient in chroma.
    3. Served with extra milk or cream.
    adv
    1. Carrying little.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: light