US /laɪt/ UK /[laɪt]/
adv adj Freq #526

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    Not weighing much; easy to lift or carry.

    The bag is light enough for a child to carry.

  2. 2
    adj

    Full of light; bright.

    The room is light when the shutters are open.

  3. 3
    adj

    Pale in colour.

    She painted the walls a light blue.

  4. 4
    adj

    Small in amount, degree, or force.

    There was only light traffic on the way to work.

  5. 5
    adv

    With little to carry.

    Experienced travellers prefer to travel light.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
3 adj · pale in colour. light-colored
5 adv · with little to carry. lightly
Word family
Forms lightedlightestlightish-coloredlights
Derived forms alightenalt-lightantilightantilightsbetalightchain-lightdeadlightelf-lightenlightenlightenfanlightfaster-than-light
Related forms belightinlightlightnesslightyphoton

Common collocations

Etymology

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 N…

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Topics

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