light

light · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
2. Proto-Indo-European*lewktom
3. Proto-Germanic*leuhtą
4. Proto-West Germanic*leuht
5. Old Englishlēoht
6. Middle Englishlight
7. English todaylight

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).

light · verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
2. Proto-Indo-European*lewktom
3. Proto-Germanic*leuhtą
4. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
5. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-to-s
6. Proto-Germanic*leuhtaz
7. Proto-Germanic*liuhtijaną
8. Proto-West Germanic*liuhtijan
9. Old Englishlīehtan
10. Middle Englishlighten
11. English todaylight

From Middle English lighten, lihten (“to emit light, shine; of fire: to blaze, burn; to set fire to; etc.”), from Old English līehtan (West Saxon), līhtan (“to give light, illuminate, shine”) (Anglian, Late West Saxon), from Proto-Germanic *liuhtijan (“to illuminate, shine”), from Proto-Germanic *liuhtijaną (“to give light, shine”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine; to see”). cognates * German leuchten (“to shine”)

light · adjective³

1. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
2. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-to-s
3. Proto-Germanic*leuhtaz
4. Proto-West Germanic*leuht
5. Old Englishlēoht
6. Middle Englishlight
7. English todaylight

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.

light · adjective, adverb, noun, verb⁴

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁lengʷʰ-
2. Proto-Germanic*linhtaz
3. Proto-West Germanic*lį̄ht
4. Old Englishlēoht
5. Middle Englishlight
6. English todaylight

From Middle English light, 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”).

light · verb⁵

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁lengʷʰ-
2. Proto-Germanic*linhtaz
3. Proto-Germanic*linhtijaną
4. Proto-West Germanic*lį̄htijan
5. Old Englishlīehtan
6. Middle Englishlighten
7. English todaylight

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

Light · noun⁶

From light (“noun”).

Light · proper noun⁷

English surname, from both senses of light.

Words from the same roots