"lightbulb" meaning in English

See lightbulb in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: lightbulbs [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} lightbulb (plural lightbulbs)
  1. Alternative spelling of light bulb Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: light bulb
    Sense id: en-lightbulb-en-noun-Uv7VQmva Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ˈlaɪtˌbʌlb/ [UK, US] Forms: lightbulbs [plural]
Etymology: Calque of Cantonese 電燈泡/电灯泡 (din6 dang1 paau1), as though the third person is a light bulb in the background. Etymology templates: {{calque|en|yue|-}} Calque of Cantonese, {{zh-m|電燈泡|tr=din6 dang1 paau1}} 電燈泡/电灯泡 (din6 dang1 paau1) Head templates: {{en-noun}} lightbulb (plural lightbulbs)
  1. (Singapore, colloquial) An uninvited third person joining a couple's date who prevents or hinders romantic interactions. Tags: Singapore, colloquial Synonyms: gooseberry, third wheel
    Sense id: en-lightbulb-en-noun-ADKfwJV7 Categories (other): Singapore English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for lightbulb meaning in English (2.6kB)

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lightbulbs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lightbulb (plural lightbulbs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "light bulb"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative spelling of light bulb"
      ],
      "id": "en-lightbulb-en-noun-Uv7VQmva",
      "links": [
        [
          "light bulb",
          "light bulb#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lightbulb"
}

{
  "categories": [],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "yue",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of Cantonese",
      "name": "calque"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "電燈泡",
        "tr": "din6 dang1 paau1"
      },
      "expansion": "電燈泡/电灯泡 (din6 dang1 paau1)",
      "name": "zh-m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of Cantonese 電燈泡/电灯泡 (din6 dang1 paau1), as though the third person is a light bulb in the background.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lightbulbs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lightbulb (plural lightbulbs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Singapore English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011 October 23, Heidy The Traveler, Learn Singlish a Bit!",
          "text": "You two go ahead lah, I don't want to be lightbulb.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 August 3, Chris Soh, 20 Words That Mean Something Completely Different to Singaporeans",
          "text": "When she finally came out her friend joined us. Damn lightbulb leh!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, carolcraves, \"https://twitter.com/carolcraves/status/429233427863183360\", Twitter, 31 January 2014",
          "text": "Being an extra big light bulb and eating with two cousins and their husband and fiance."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An uninvited third person joining a couple's date who prevents or hinders romantic interactions."
      ],
      "id": "en-lightbulb-en-noun-ADKfwJV7",
      "links": [
        [
          "uninvited",
          "uninvited"
        ],
        [
          "couple",
          "couple"
        ],
        [
          "date",
          "date"
        ],
        [
          "prevents",
          "prevents"
        ],
        [
          "hinders",
          "hinders"
        ],
        [
          "romantic",
          "romantic"
        ],
        [
          "interactions",
          "interactions"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, colloquial) An uninvited third person joining a couple's date who prevents or hinders romantic interactions."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "gooseberry"
        },
        {
          "word": "third wheel"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈlaɪtˌbʌlb/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lightbulb"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms calqued from Cantonese",
    "English terms derived from Cantonese",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lightbulbs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lightbulb (plural lightbulbs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "light bulb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative spelling of light bulb"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "light bulb",
          "light bulb#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lightbulb"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms calqued from Cantonese",
    "English terms derived from Cantonese",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "yue",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of Cantonese",
      "name": "calque"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "電燈泡",
        "tr": "din6 dang1 paau1"
      },
      "expansion": "電燈泡/电灯泡 (din6 dang1 paau1)",
      "name": "zh-m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of Cantonese 電燈泡/电灯泡 (din6 dang1 paau1), as though the third person is a light bulb in the background.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lightbulbs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lightbulb (plural lightbulbs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Singapore English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011 October 23, Heidy The Traveler, Learn Singlish a Bit!",
          "text": "You two go ahead lah, I don't want to be lightbulb.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 August 3, Chris Soh, 20 Words That Mean Something Completely Different to Singaporeans",
          "text": "When she finally came out her friend joined us. Damn lightbulb leh!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, carolcraves, \"https://twitter.com/carolcraves/status/429233427863183360\", Twitter, 31 January 2014",
          "text": "Being an extra big light bulb and eating with two cousins and their husband and fiance."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An uninvited third person joining a couple's date who prevents or hinders romantic interactions."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "uninvited",
          "uninvited"
        ],
        [
          "couple",
          "couple"
        ],
        [
          "date",
          "date"
        ],
        [
          "prevents",
          "prevents"
        ],
        [
          "hinders",
          "hinders"
        ],
        [
          "romantic",
          "romantic"
        ],
        [
          "interactions",
          "interactions"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, colloquial) An uninvited third person joining a couple's date who prevents or hinders romantic interactions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈlaɪtˌbʌlb/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "gooseberry"
    },
    {
      "word": "third wheel"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lightbulb"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.