Chinese word

灯

Pronunciation

Pinyindēng

Meaning

  • nounlight

Example

请把灯关了。qǐng bǎ dēng guān le

Please turn off the light.

Illustration for 灯 (light)

More examples

读书时我把台灯打开了。dú shū shí wǒ bǎ tái dēng dǎ kāi le

While reading, I turned on the desk lamp.

Core concept

A man-made source of brightness, including both the device that shines and the light it gives off.

Common phrases

  • 开灯kāi dēng

    turn on the light

  • 关灯guān dēng

    turn off the light

  • 台灯tái dēng

    desk lamp

Similar words

电灯diàn dēng: An electric lamp used to provide light.
台灯tái dēng: A small lamp for use on a desk or table.
灯光dēng guāng: Light itself as it illuminates objects or a place.

Definition in Chinese

用于照明的器具或其发出的光，泛指人工光源，如台灯、路灯、电灯等。yòng yú zhào míng de qì jù huò qí fā chū de guāng fàn zhǐ rén gōng guāng yuán rú tái dēng lù dēng diàn dēng děng

Word origin

灯 (dēng, "light") is the simplified form of 燈 (dēng, "light"), whose 火 (huǒ, "fire") component recalls a flame and whose 登 (dēng, "climb") component mainly supplies the sound.

Usage tips

  • The same Chinese noun can name a lighting device or the brightness it produces, so context rather than a strict object-versus-light split identifies the intended sense.

Other meanings

  • lampnoun
  • electric lightnoun

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word