light
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *lewk-der.
Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz
Proto-West Germanic *leuht
Old English lēoht
Middle English light
English light
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).
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”).
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.
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”).
From Middle English lighten, from Old English līhtan (“to relieve”), from Proto-West Germanic *lį̄htijan, from Proto-Germanic *linhtijaną, from *linhtaz (“light”).