traffic light

See also: traffic-light

English

A traffic light (signalling device).

Noun

traffic light (plural traffic lights)

1. A signalling device positioned at a road intersection or pedestrian crossing to indicate when it may be safe to drive, ride or walk, using a universal colour code.
   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.

2. A colour code using the three signals of a traffic light (green, yellow/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.

3. (philately) The coloured dots on stamp sheet margins printed with offset litho or photogravure methods, used by the printers to check colour accuracy.

Synonyms

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

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) (lusacʿuycʿ)
• 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: ယာဉ်အသွားအလာအလင်း (yany-a.swa:a.laa.lang:), အသွားအလာအလင်း (a.swa:a.laa.lang:), မီးပွိုင့် (mi:pwuing.)
• Catalan: semàfor (ca) m
• Chinese:

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

  Hakka: 紅青燈／红青灯 (fùng-chhiâng-tên)

  Mandarin: 紅綠燈／红绿灯 (zh) (hónglǜdēng), 信號燈／信号灯 (zh) (xìnhàodēng)

  Min Nan: 青紅燈／青红灯 (zh-min-nan) (chheⁿ-âng-teng, chhiⁿ-âng-teng)

• 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, feux de circulation (fr) m pl
• Fula:

  Adlam: 𞤨𞤮𞥅𞤴𞤫 𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮𞤤‎

  Latin: pooye laawol

• Galician: semáforo (gl) m
• Georgian: შუქნიშანი (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 (yātāyāt battī), ट्रैफ़िक लाइट (ṭraifik lāiṭ)
• Hungarian: jelzőlámpa (hu), közlekedési lámpa (hu), stoplámpa (hu)
• Icelandic: umferðarljós (is) n
• Indonesian: lampu lalu lintas (id)
• 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)
• 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: sēmaphōrum
• 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)

• Norman: veue d'trafi f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trafikklys (no) n

  Nynorsk: trafikklys n

• Persian: چراغ راهنمایی‎ (fa) (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)
• Rusyn: семафо́р m (semafór)
• 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 (čaroġi rahnamo), светофор (svetofor)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: สัญญาณไฟจราจร (sǎn-yaan-fai-jà-raa-jɔɔn), ไฟจราจร (th) (fai-jà-raa-jɔɔn)
• Turkish: trafik ışığı
• Turkmen: swetofor, ýolyşyk
• Ukrainian: світлофо́р m (svitlofór)
• 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