traffic light

See also: traffic-light

English

A traffic light (signalling device).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹæˌfɪk laɪt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Noun

traffic light (plural traffic lights)

2. A signalling device positioned at a road intersection or pedestrian crossing indicating the moment it is safe to drive, ride or walk, using a universal color code.

   Coordinate term: railway signal

   • 2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 65:

     In Sydney you'd better be riding the clutch and completely in sync with the traffic lights so that your car is already moving as they turn green.

   1. (usually in the plural) A road intersection controlled by one or more such devices.

      Turn left at the traffic lights and the hospital is on your right.

3. A colour code using the three signals of a traffic light (green, yellow or amber, and red) as a metaphor.

   The Department of Health recommends that food packaging display the recommended daily intake with a traffic light system, for ease of understanding.

4. (philately) The colored dots on stamp sheet margins printed with offset printing or photogravure methods, used by the printers to check color accuracy.

Synonyms

• (signaling device): robot (South Africa), stop light (US), traffic signal (UK dated, US)
• (intersection): lights, signals
• (philately): registration mark

Meronyms

• amber light
• green light
• red light
• yellow light

 

Derived terms

• traffic light coalition

Translations

signalling device

• Afrikaans: robot, verkeerslig
• Albanian: semafor (sq) m
• Arabic: إِشَارَة مُرُور f (ʔišārat murūr), إِشَارَة ضَوْئِيَّة f (ʔišāra ḍawʔiyya)

  Hijazi Arabic: إِشَارَة m (ʔišāra)

  Moroccan Arabic: ضو احمر m (ḍaww eḥmar)

  North Levantine Arabic: إِشَارَة مُرُور f (ʔišāret murūr)

  South Levantine Arabic: إِشَارَة مُرُور f (ʔišāret murūr), إشارة f (ʔišāra), ضوّ m (ḍaww), رمزور m (ramzōr)

• Armenian: լուսացույց (hy) (lusacʻuycʻ)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܢܝܼܫܲܢܩܵܐ ܕܡܲܪܕܝܼܬܵܐ m (nīšānqa d-mārdīta)
• Asturian: semáforu m
• Azerbaijani: işıqfor, yol işığı
• Bashkir: светофор (svetofor)
• Basque: semaforo
• Belarusian: святлафо́р m (svjatlafór)
• Bengali: সিগনাল (śigonal)
• Bulgarian: светофа́р (bg) m (svetofár)
• Burmese: မီးပွိုင့် (mi:pwuing.)
• Carpathian Rusyn: семафо́р m (semafór)
• Catalan: semàfor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 紅綠燈 / 红绿灯 (hung⁴ luk⁶ dang¹), 交通燈 / 交通灯 (gaau¹ tung¹ dang¹)

  Eastern Min: 紅綠燈 / 红绿灯 (è̤ng-liŏh-dĕng)

  Hakka: 紅青燈 / 红青灯 (fùng-chhiâng-tên), 紅綠燈 / 红绿灯 (fùng-liu̍k-tên)

  Hokkien: 青紅燈 / 青红灯 (zh-min-nan) (chheⁿ-âng-teng, chhiⁿ-âng-teng), 紅青燈 / 红青灯 (âng-chheⁿ-teng)

  Mandarin: 紅綠燈 / 红绿灯 (zh) (hónglǜdēng), 信號燈 / 信号灯 (zh) (xìnhàodēng), 紅青燈 / 红青灯 (zh) (hóngqīngdēng) (Malaysia, Singapore)

  Wu: 紅綠燈 / 红绿灯 (⁶ghon-loq-ten)

• Czech: semafor (cs) m, světelné signalizační zařízení n
• Danish: lyssignal, lyskurv, trafiklys (da) n
• Dutch: verkeerslicht (nl) n, stoplicht (nl) n
• Elfdalian: trafikliuos
• Esperanto: trafiklumoj, semaforo
• Estonian: valgusfoor
• Faroese: ferðsluljós n
• Finnish: liikennevalot (fi) pl
• French: feu (fr) m, feu de circulation (fr) m, feu de signalisation (fr) m, feu tricolore (fr) m
• Fula:

  Adlam: 𞤨𞤮𞥅𞤴𞤫 𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮𞤤

  Roman: pooye laawol

• Galician: semáforo (gl) m
• Georgian: შუქნიშანი (ka) (šuknišani)
• German: Ampel (de) f, Verkehrsampel (de) f; (Namibia, South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal)) Robot (de) m
• Greek: φανάρι (el) n (fanári)
• Hebrew: רַמְזוֹר (he) m (ramzór)
• Hindi: यातायात बत्ती f (yātāyāt battī), ट्रैफ़िक लाइट (ṭraifik lāiṭ), ट्रैफ़िक सिग्नल m (ṭraifik signal), रोबोट m (roboṭ)
• Hungarian: jelzőlámpa (hu), közlekedési lámpa (hu), stoplámpa (hu)
• Icelandic: umferðarljós (is) n
• Indonesian: lampu lalu lintas (id) (common), lampu merah (id) (colloquial), alat pemberi isyarat lalu lintas (legal)
• Irish: solas tráchta m
• Italian: semaforo (it) m
• Japanese: 交通信号 (ja) (こうつうしんごう, kōtsū shingō), 信号 (ja) (しんごう, shingō), ゴーストップ (gōsutoppu), 信号機 (ja) (しんごうき, shingōki)
• Kazakh: бағдаршам (bağdarşam)
• Khmer: ពន្លឺចរាចរណ៍ (pŭənlɨɨ cɑɑraacɑɑ)
• Korean: 신호등(信號燈) (ko) (sinhodeung)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: trafoyê, lembaya trafîkê

• Kyrgyz: белгишам (belgişam), светофор (svetofor)
• Ladino: luzes de tráfiko, lampas de trafik
• Lao: ໄຟສັນຍານຈໍລະຈອນ (lo) (fai san nyān chǭ la chǭn), ໄຟຈະລາຈອນ (fai cha lā chǭn)
• Latin: sēmaphorum
• Latvian: luksofors m, svetofors m (dated)
• Lithuanian: šviesoforas m
• Macedonian: семафо́р m (semafór)
• Malay: lampu isyarat (ms), lampu trafik
• Maltese: dawl tat-traffiku m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: замын гэрэл (zamyn gerel), дохионы гэрэл (doxiony gerel), гэрлэн дохио (gerlen doxio)

• Norman: veue d'trafi f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trafikklys (no) n

  Nynorsk: trafikklys n

• Pannonian Rusyn: семафор m (semafor)
• Pashto: ترافیکي څراغونه f
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: چِراغِ راهْنَمایی (čerâğ-e râhnamâyi)

• Polish: światło sygnalizacyjne n, sygnalizator świetlny, sygnalizacja (pl), światła drogowe n pl
• Portuguese: semáforo (pt) m, sinal de trânsito m, sinal (pt) m, farol (pt) m, sinaleira (pt) f (Northeastern Brazil, Florianópolis)
• Romanian: semafor (ro) n
• Russian: светофо́р (ru) m (svetofór)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: се̏мафо̄р m, светлоказ m

  Roman: sȅmafōr (sh) m, svetlokaz

• Slovak: semafor m
• Slovene: semafor (sl) m
• Spanish: semáforo (es) m
• Swedish: trafikljus (sv), trafiksignal c
• Tagalog: ilaw-trapiko
• Tajik: чароғи раҳнамо (čaroġ-i rahnamo), светофор (svetofor)
• Tamil: குறிகை விளக்கு (kuṟikai viḷakku)
• Thai: สัญญาณไฟจราจร (sǎn-yaan-fai-jà-raa-jɔɔn), ไฟจราจร (th) (fai-jà-raa-jɔɔn)
• Turkish: trafik ışığı
• Turkmen: swetofor, ýolyşyk
• Ukrainian: світлофо́р m (svitlofór)
• Urdu: ٹْرَیفِک لائِٹْس (ṭraifik lāiṭs), ٹْرَیفِک لائِٹ (ṭraifik lāiṭ), ٹْرَیفِک سِگْنَل m (ṭraifik signal)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: svetofor (uz)
• Vietnamese: đèn giao thông, đèn hiệu, đèn hiệu giao thông, đèn xanh đèn đỏ, đèn xanh đỏ
• Welsh: goleuad traffig m, goleuadau (cy) m pl
• Yiddish: פֿאָרסיגנאַל (forsignal)
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

See also

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