lightsaber

English

WOTD – 4 May 2017

Two Star Wars cosplayers wielding lightsabers at the 2010 Tekkoshocon, an anime convention held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Alternative forms

• light saber
• lightsabre (Britain and elsewhere outside the US)

Etymology

From light +‎ saber; coined by American filmmaker George Lucas for the Star Wars film franchise. First mentioned in the film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) which was released on 25 May, 1977.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /laɪtˈseɪ.bə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /laɪtˈseɪ.bɚ/
• Hyphenation: light‧sa‧ber

Noun

lightsaber (plural lightsabers)

1. (science fiction) A sword having a blade made of a powerful beam of light or energy. [from 1977.]
   • 1977 May 25, George Lucas, Star Wars, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness):

     [Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker] Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

   • 2004, Rob N. Hood, Beyond the Wind, Binghamton, N.Y.: Southern Tier Editions/Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 1:

     Wielding his flashlight like a lightsaber, Kyle sent golden shafts slicing through the swirling vapors.

   • 2006 September, Steve Tomkins, “Icon of the Month No. 82: Dr Who”, in Simon Jones, editor, Third Way, volume 29, number 7, Harrow, London: Third Way Trust, →ISSN, page 24:

     This was the era of Star Wars, the reinvention of science fiction with the homely Luke Skywalker. But even Luke had the Force and a tie-fighter. The Doctor was a humanist, and his spacecraft was an obsolete phone box redolent of bobbies with whistles. He would never resort to lightsabre against villains, preferring to confront them with jelly babies.

   • 2008 November, “Collecting”, in Boys' Life, volume XCVIII, number 11, Irving, Tx.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, page 52:

     Poster Power / Get the scheme behind the scene with Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection. This boxed set includes five double-sided posters with blueprints of the Death Star, R2-D2, and C-3PO, lightsabers and blasters, Darth Vader and the Millennium Falcon.

2. A real-world toy, prop, or device fashioned after the fictional lightsaber.

Translations

a fictional type of sword

• Arabic: سَيْف الضَّوْءِ m (sayf aḍ-ḍawʔi)
• Bulgarian: лазерен меч m (lazeren meč), светлинен меч m (svetlinen meč)
• Catalan: espasa de llum f, sabre làser m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 光劍／光剑 (guāngjiàn)

• Czech: světelný meč m
• Danish: lyssværd n, lasersværd n
• Dutch: lichtzwaard n, lichtsabel m
• Esperanto: lumglavo
• Estonian: valgusmõõk
• Faroese: geislasvørð n
• Finnish: valosapeli, valomiekka, lasermiekka, lasersapeli
• French: sabre laser (fr) m, sabre-laser m, sabrolaser m
• Galician: espada de luz f, sabre láser m, sabre de luz m
• German: Lichtschwert n, Laserschwert n
• Greek: φωτόσπαθο (el) n (fotóspatho)
• Hebrew: חֶרֶב אוֹר f (khérev 'or)
• Hungarian: fénykard (hu), lézerkard (hu)
• Icelandic: geislasverð n
• Italian: spada laser f
• Japanese: ライトセーバー (raitosēbā), 光の剣 (ひかりのけん, hikari no ken)
• Korean: 광선검 (gwangseon'geom), 라이트세이버 (raiteuseibeo), 광검 (gwanggeom)
• Latin: gladius lūcidus m
• Latvian: gaismas zobens m
• Malay: pedang cahaya
• Navajo: bééshdíín
• Norwegian: lyssabel m

  Bokmål: lasersverd

  Nynorsk: lasersverd

• Persian: شمشیر نوری (šamšir nuri)
• Polish: miecz świetlny (pl) m
• Portuguese: sabre de luz m
• Romanian: sabie laser f
• Russian: светово́й меч m (svetovój meč), светоша́шка f (svetošáška)
• Sanskrit: रोचसः असि (rócasaḥ así)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: све̏тлоснӣ ма̏ч m, светлосна са̏бља f

  Roman: svȅtlosnī mȁč m, svetlosna sȁblja f

• Slovak: svetelný meč m
• Spanish: sable de luz m, sable láser m, espada de luz f, espada láser f
• Swedish: ljussabel c, ljussvärd n, lasersvärd n
• Thai: กระบี่แสง (grà-bìi sɛ̌ɛng), ดาบเลเซอร์ (dàap lee-səə), ไลท์เซเบอร์ (lai-see-bəə)
• Turkish: ışın kılıcı
• Ukrainian: світлови́й меч m (svitlovýj meč)
• Yiddish: ליכטסייבער f (likhtseyber), ליכטשווערד f (likhtshverd)

Further reading

• lightsaber on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Gilbreaths, lightsabre