lit

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lit"

Translingual

Symbol

lit

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Lithuanian.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Etymology 1

Replaced earlier light (from Middle English lighte, from Old English līhtte, first and third person singular preterit of līhtan (“to light”)) due to the analogy of bite:bit. More at light; compare fit (“fought”).

Verb

lit

1. simple past and past participle of light (“illuminate; start a fire; etc”)
2. simple past and past participle of light (“alight: land, come down on”)
   • 1896, Florence Merriam Bailey, A-birding on a Bronco, page 87:

     […] but finally [the bird] came to the tree and, after edging along falteringly, lit on a branch above them.

Verb

lit (third-person singular simple present lits, present participle litting, simple past and past participle litted)

1. (US, dialectal) To run or light (alight).
   • 1988 April 8, Grant Pick, “Johnny Washington's Life”, in Chicago Reader‎^[1]:

     With that the kid lits off down the street, and, what do you know!

Adjective

lit (comparative more lit, superlative most lit)

1. Illuminated.

   Synonyms: lighted, luminous; see also Thesaurus:illuminated, Thesaurus:shining

   He walked down the lit corridor.

2. (slang) Drunk, intoxicated; under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

   Synonyms: stoned; see also Thesaurus:stoned, Thesaurus:drunk

   • 1932, Hart Crane, letter, 16 February:

     True to my word last night, I got very lit.

3. (slang) Sexually aroused (usually of a female), especially visibly sexually aroused.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:randy

4. (slang) Exciting, captivating; fun.
   • 2017 November, Justin Allec, Adrian Lysenko, Kirsti Salmi, “Sounds of the City: Part VI”, in The Walleye, page 8:

     DJ sets so lit the dance floor's dripping with sweat?

   • 2018 July 4, James Courtney, “Music Picks”, in San Antonio Current, page 39:

     If indie punk, pop-punk, post-punk, and emo happen to be your bag, this early-week show at Paper Tiger is gonna be lit.

   • 2018 December 27, Shan Kekahuna, “Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!”, in MauiTime, page 17:

     New Year's Eve is once a year and it's gonna be lit.

   This party is gonna be lit.

5. (slang) Excellent, fantastic; cool.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:excellent

   • 2017 June 8, “Out with the old, in with the new”, in Dundrum Gazette, page 18:

     […] will keep your feet looking lit this summer thanks to the Trainer Exchange.

   • 2019, "Top 10 Plastic Surgeons in Manhattan", Art Bodega Magazine, December/January 2019:

     At his Upper East Side office, the talented doctor has a very lit and elegant office, where art canvasses the walls.

   • 2019 October, Alice Ridley, “Letter from the Editor”, in Connect Magazine, page 4:

     The fourth article is all about autumnal leaf photography tips to get our Instagram photos looking lit.

   Those jeans are lit.

Derived terms

• dim-lit
• gaslit, gas-lit
• half lit
• illlit, ill-lit
• litty
• lit up
• oil-lit
• strip-lit
• well-lit

 

Translations

Lighted

• Czech: osvětlený (cs)
• Danish: tændt
• Finnish: valaistu (fi)
• French: allumé (fr)
• German: beleuchtet (de), angezündet (de)
• Italian: acceso (it)
• Macedonian: о́светлен (ósvetlen)
• Portuguese: aceso (pt), iluminado (pt)
• Russian: освещённый (ru) (osveščónnyj)
• Sicilian: aḍḍumatu m
• Spanish: encendido (es), alumbrado (es), iluminado (es), aluzado (es)

Intoxicated or under the influence of drugs; stoned

• Finnish: päihtynyt (fi)
• Macedonian: на́пушен (nápušen), на́дуван (náduvan)
• Sicilian: ntrunatu (scn) m, stunatu m
• Spanish: viajado (es) m, pasado (es) m, drogado (es) m, pedo (es), volado (es), puesto (es) m

Etymology 2

From Middle English lit, lut, from Old English lȳt (“little, few”), from Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz (“little, small”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to cower, hunch over”). Cognate with Old Saxon lut (“little”), Middle High German lützen (“to make small or low, decrease”). More at little.

Adjective

lit (comparative litter or more lit, superlative littest or most lit)

1. (obsolete) Little.

Noun

lit (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Little.

Related terms

• lite

Etymology 3

From Middle English lit, from Old Norse litr (“colour, dye, complexion, face, countenance”), from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlitaz (“sight, face”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”). Cognate with Icelandic litur (“colour”), Old English wlite (“brightness, appearance, form, aspect, look, countenance, beauty, splendor, adornment”), Old English wlītan (“to gaze, look, observe”).

Noun

lit (uncountable)

1. (UK dialectal) Colour; blee; dye; stain.

Derived terms

• lithouse, lit-house
• litmus

Etymology 4

From Middle English litten, liten, from Old Norse lita (“to colour”), from litr (“colour”). See above.

Verb

lit (third-person singular simple present lits, present participle litting, simple past and past participle litted)

1. (transitive) To colour; dye.

Etymology 5

Short for literature.

Noun

lit (uncountable)

1. Clipping of literature.

   Do we have any lit homework tonight?

Derived terms

• chick lit
• comput lit
• dick lit
• frat lit
• lad lit
• lit crit
• litfan
• misery lit
• mis lit
• quit lit
• sick lit
• vid lit

 

See also

• wagon-lit (etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• 'til, TIL, TLI, til

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪt]

Participle

lit

1. masculine singular passive participle of lít

Faroese

Etymology

From the verb líta (‘to view’).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [liːt]

Noun

lit n (genitive singular lits, uncountable)

1. short wink, view, look

Declension

Declension of lit (singular only)
n3s	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	lit	litið
accusative	lit	litið
dative	liti	litinum
genitive	lits	litsins

Synonyms

• eygnabrá (wink)

Derived terms

• andlit (face)
• álit (trust)
• eftirlit (control)
• fyrilit (caution)
• innlit (insight)
• útlit (outlook)
• yvirlit (overview, summary)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French lit, from Latin lectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophone: lits

Noun

lit m (plural lits)

1. bed

   Où est-il? Il dort dans son lit. ― Where is he? He's sleeping in his bed.

Derived terms

• aller au lit
• au lit
• cloué au lit
• comme on fait son lit on se couche
• faire le lit
• femme qui rit, à moitié dans son lit
• femme qui rit, à moitié dans ton lit
• lit à baldaquin
• lit de camp
• lit de justice
• lit de mort
• lit de sangle
• lit pliant
• lit superposé
• mouiller son lit
• punaise des lits

 

Verb

lit

1. third-person singular present indicative of lire

   Jean lit très souvent. ― Jean reads very often.

Further reading

• “lit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Icelandic

Noun

lit

1. indefinite accusative/dative singular of litur

Lashi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lit/

Noun

lit

1. air

References

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎^[2], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Middle English

Noun

lit

1. Alternative form of light

Norman

Noun

lit m (plural lits)

1. Alternative form of llit (“bed”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːt/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hlít.

Noun

lit f or m (definite singular)

1. trust

   Eg set min lit til Gud.

   I put my trust in God.

Etymology 2

Verb

lit

1. present tense of lite
2. imperative of lite

Etymology 3

Noun

lìt m (definite singular lìten, indefinite plural lìter or lìtir, definite plural lìterne or lìtine)

1. (pre-1917) alternative form of let

References

• “lit” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• ilt, til

Old French

Etymology

From Latin lectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lit/

Noun

lit oblique singular, m (oblique plural liz or litz, nominative singular liz or litz, nominative plural lit)

1. bed

Descendants

• Bourguignon: leit
• French: lit
• Norman: liet

Old Norse

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lit/

Noun

lit n

1. vision
2. sight

Related terms

• líta (“to see”)

References

• J.Fritzners ordbok over Det gamle norske sprog, dvs. norrøn ordbok ("J.Fritnzer's dictionary of the old Norwegian language, i.e. Old Norse dictionary"), on lit.

Anagrams

• til

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lit/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it
• Syllabification: lit
• Homophone: lead

Etymology 1

Borrowed from New Latin lithium, from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos).

Noun

Chemical element
Li
Previous: hel (He)
Next: beryl (Be)

lit m inan

1. lithium
2. (informal) lithium carbonate (drug used in the treatment of bipolar disorder)

Declension

Declension of lit

	singular
nominative	lit
genitive	litu
dative	litowi
accusative	lit
instrumental	litem
locative	licie
vocative	licie

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Lithuanian litas.

Noun

lit m anim

1. (historical) litas (former unit of currency of Lithuania)

Declension

Declension of lit

	singular	plural
nominative	lit	lity
genitive	lita	litów
dative	litowi	litom
accusative	lita	lity
instrumental	litem	litami
locative	licie	litach
vocative	licie	lity

Further reading

• lit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• lit in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

lit f

1. genitive singular of lite

Sumbawa

Noun

lit

1. sea

Swedish

Noun

lit c

1. trust

Declension

Declension of lit
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	lit	liten	—	—
Genitive	lits	litens	—	—

Synonyms

• tillit

See also

• lita

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from German Licht and English light.

Noun

lit (nominative plural lits)

1. light
2. illumination

Declension

declension of lit

	singular	plural
nominative	lit	lits
genitive	lita	litas
dative	lite	lites
accusative	liti	litis
vocative 1	o lit!	o lits!
predicative 2	litu	litus

• ¹ status as a case is disputed
• ² in later, non-classical Volapük only

Zay

Noun

lit

1. tree-bark

References

• Initial SLLE Survey of the Zway Area by Klaus Wedekind and Charlotte Wedekind