lighter

lighter

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪtɚ/, [ˈlaɪɾɚ]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪtə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: light‧er

Etymology 1

A lighter (sense 2)

light (“ignite”) +‎ -er (“agent”)

Noun

lighter (plural lighters)

1. A person who lights things.

   a lighter of lamps

2. A device used to light things, especially a reusable handheld device for creating fire to light cigarettes.

   Synonym: (dated) briquet

   Cigarette in mouth, he clutched his pockets in search of a lighter.

Hyponyms

• cigarette lighter
• firelighter
• lamplighter

Descendants

• → Bengali: লাইটার (laiṭar)
• → Danish: lighter
• → Hindi: लाइटर (lāiṭar)
• → Japanese: ライター (raitā)
• → Korean: 라이터 (raiteo)
• → Norwegian:

  → Norwegian Bokmål: lighter

  → Norwegian Nynorsk: lighter

• → Pashto: لایټر‎ (lāyṭar) (neologism)
• → Persian: لایتر‎ (lâytar) (Dari)
• → Urdu: لائٹر‎ (lāiṭar)

Translations

fire-making device

Afrikaans: aak, aanbrandsteker, aansteker Albanian: çakmak (sq) m Amharic: ማቀጣጠያ (maḳäṭaṭäya), መለኮሻ (mäläkoša) Arabic: قَدَّاحَة‎ f (qaddāḥa), وَلَّاعَة‎ f (wallāʿa) Armenian: կրակվառիչ (hy) (krakvaṙičʿ) Azerbaijani: alışqan (az) Basque: pizgailu, metxero (eu) Belarusian: запальні́чка f (zapalʹníčka) Bengali: লাইটার (laiṭar) Bulgarian: запа́лка (bg) f (zapálka) Burmese: ဓာတ်မီးခြစ် (my) (dhatmi:hkrac), မီးခြစ် (my) (mi:hkrac) (lighter or matches) Catalan: encenedor (ca) m Chechen: цӏетухург (cʼetuxurg) Chinese: Cantonese: 火機, 火机 (fo2 gei1), 打火機, 打火机 (daa2 fo2 gei1) Mandarin: 打火機／打火机 (zh) (dǎhuǒjī) Crimean Tatar: çaqmaq Czech: zapalovač (cs) m Danish: lighter (da) c, cigarettænder c (for cigarettes), fyrtøj (da) n (obsolete) Dutch: aansteker (nl) m Estonian: tulemasin, välgumihkel Faroese: tendrari m Finnish: sytytin (fi), savukkeensytytin, tupakansytytin (fi) (informal), sytkäri (fi) (colloquial) French: briquet (fr) m Galician: chisqueiro (gl) m Georgian: სანთებელა (santebela) German: Feuerzeug (de) n, Zigarettenfeuerzeug n, Zigarettenanzünder (de) m Gilbertese: bebete riki Greek: αναπτήρας (el) m (anaptíras) Hebrew: מַצִּית‎ (he) m (metsit) Hindi: लाइटर m (lāiṭar) Hungarian: öngyújtó (hu) Icelandic: kveikjari (is) m Ido: acendilo (io) Indonesian: korek api gas, pemantik (id) Sundanese: gérétan Irish: lastóir m, lastóir toitíní m (cigarette-lighter) Italian: accendino (it) m Japanese: ライター (ja) (raitā) Kazakh: шақпақ (şaqpaq) Khmer: ដែកកេះ (daek keh) Korean: 라이터 (ko) (raiteo) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: (please verify) چەرخ‎ (ku) (çerx) Northern Kurdish: heste (ku), çeqmaq (ku) Kyrgyz: зажигалка (ky) (zajigalka), чакмак (ky) (çakmak) Lao: ກັບໄຟ (lo) (kap fai) (lighter or matches), ເຫລັກໄຟ (lek fai), ກັບເຫລັກໄຟ (kap lek fai) Latin: ignitabulum n Latvian: šķiltavas m, dedzīklis m (archaism) Ligurian: bricchettu m, bricchetto m Lithuanian: žiebtuvėlis m Low German: Füertüüch (nds) n Macedonian: запалка f (zapalka), чакмак m (čakmak) (archaic) Malay: lebih ringan Maltese: lajter m Manx: losseyder, eddrymmey Maori: pūahi Mongolian: Cyrillic: асаагуур (mn) (asaaguur) Norwegian: Bokmål: lighter m, sigarettenner m, fyrtøy n Nynorsk: fyrtøy n, tennar m, lighter m Pashto: لایټر‎ m (lāyṭar) (neologism) Persian: فندک‎ (fa) (fandak), لایتر‎ (lâytar) (Dari) Plautdietsch: Hupjebrenna m Polabian: vigneně tüďai m Polish: zapalniczka (pl) f Portuguese: acendedor m, isqueiro (pt) m Romanian: brichetă (ro) f Russian: зажига́лка (ru) f (zažigálka) Samoan: please add this translation if you can Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: упа̀ља̄ч m Roman: upàljāč (sh) m Sicilian: azzarinu m Slovak: zapaľovač m Slovene: vžigalnik m Sotho: segôtêtši Spanish: encendedor (es) m, briquet m (Colombia), fosforera f (Cuba), lighter m (Panama, Puerto Rico), mechero (es) m (Spain), yesquero m (Venezuela) Swahili: vibiriti vya chuma Swedish: cigarettändare (sv) c, tändare (sv) c Tagalog: pansindi Tajik: оташафрӯзак (tg) (otašafrüzak), нимирӯзӣ (tg) (nimirüzī) Tetum: iskeiru Thai: ไฟแช็ก (th) (fai-chɛ́k) Tibetan: སླ་བ (sla ba) Tongan: masi Turkish: çakmak (tr) Turkmen: çakmak Ukrainian: запальни́чка f (zapalʹnýčka) Urdu: لائٹر‎ m (lāiṭar) Uyghur: چاقماق‎ (ug) (chaqmaq) Uzbek: zajigalka (uz), chaqmoq (uz) Vietnamese: bật lửa (vi), hộp quẹt (vi) Volapük: filidöm (vo) Welsh: taniwr m Yiddish: אָנצינדער‎ m (ontsinder) Zazaki: adırge (diq) m Zulu: into yokukhanyisa

Etymology 2

light (“unload, lighten”) +‎ -er (“agent”); or possibly from Middle Low German luchter

Noun

lighter (plural lighters)

1. A flat-bottomed boat for carrying heavy loads across short distances (especially for canals or for loading or unloading larger boats).
   • 1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 9:

     It is, of course, possible to work only to or from lighters in this way, and such working is not very general in this country, although a certain amount of such overside work is carried on in enclosed docks.

Translations

a barge

Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Danish: lægter (da) c, ligter c Dutch: lichter (nl) m Finnish: lehteri (fi) German: Leichter (de) m Greek: φορτηγίδα (el) f (fortigída) Hebrew: פּוֹרֶקֶת‎ (he) f (poreket) Icelandic: prammi m Norwegian: Bokmål: lekter m Nynorsk: lekter m Polish: lichter m Russian: ли́хтер (ru) (líxter), шала́нда (ru) f (šalánda) Swedish: liktare c

Verb

lighter (third-person singular simple present lighters, present participle lightering, simple past and past participle lightered)

1. To transfer (cargo or passengers) to or from a ship by means of a lighter or other small vessel.
   • 1900. Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain. Vol. 7, pg. 3227.

     Troops and stores were lightered to the wharves inside the harbor by steamers Orizaba and Berkshire.

2. To transfer cargo or fuel from (a ship), lightening it to make its draft less or to make it easier to refloat.

Etymology 3

light (“pale”) +‎ -er (“comparative”)

Adjective

lighter

1. comparative form of light: more light

   I prefer a lighter shade of pink.

Etymology 4

light (“not heavy, weak”) +‎ -er (“comparative”)

Adjective

lighter

1. comparative form of light: more light

   What happened? You look 10 lbs. lighter!

   I wish I'd thrown a lighter punch; he's out cold.

   • 1964 May, “News and Comment: WR's new parcel traffic method”, in Modern Railways, page 300:

     It is lighter to handle and more manoeuvrable, and its three caged sides with web straps on the fourth prevent movement of the contents.

   • 2021 May 19, David Clough, “Swiss precision meets UK growth”, in RAIL, number 931, page 57:

     For example, lightweight construction and Jacobs bogies save weight, and a lighter train uses less power.

Anagrams

• relight