candle

English

A candle—a light source

Etymology

From Middle English candel, from Old English candel (“candle”), borrowed from Latin candēla (“candle”), from Latin candeō (“be white, bright, shining”, verb); see candid. Doublet of candela and chandelle.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkændəl/, /ˈkændl̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ændəl

Noun

candle (plural candles)

1. A light source consisting of a wick embedded in a solid, flammable substance such as wax, tallow, or paraffin.

   light a candle

   blow out the candles on the birthday cake

   snuff out the candle

2. The protruding, removable portion of a filter, particularly a water filter.
3. (obsolete) A unit of luminous intensity, now replaced by the SI unit candela.
4. (forestry) A fast-growing, light-colored, upward-growing shoot on a pine tree in the spring. As growth slows in summer, the shoot darkens and is no longer conspicuous.

Derived terms

• Advent candle
• better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
• better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
• better to light one candle than to curse the darkness
• better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness
• burn one's candle at both ends
• burn the candle at both ends
• bush candle
• candle auction
• candlebark (Eucalyptus rubida)
• candleberry (Myrica spp,)
• candlebomb
• candle bush
• candle chart
• candle coal
• candle dance
• candle-end
• candlefish
• candleflame
• candleglow
• candle holder
• candleholder
• candle in the wind
• candleless
• candlelight
• candle-light
• candle light
• candlelighted
• candlelighter
• candlelighting
• candlelight vigil
• candlelike
• candlelit
• candle magick
• candlemaker
• candlemaking
• Candlemas
• candlenut (Aleurites spp.)
• candlepin
• candlepower
• candle power
• candler
• candle salad
• candle-shade
• candleshine
• candle snuffer
• candlestand
• candlestick
• candlestub
• candle-stub
• candle tree
• candle-waster
• candlewaster
• candle-wasting
• candle wax
• candlewax
• candle-wick
• candlewick
• candlewood (Fouquieria splendens)
• candleworks
• candlewright
• composite candle
• corpse candle
• cube candle
• death candle
• decimal candle
• desert candle
• devil's candle
• dip candle
• dipped candle
• ear candle
• Easter candle
• electric candle
• fetch candle
• foot candle
• foot-candle
• grave candle
• Hefner candle
• hold a candle
• hold a candle for
• ice candle
• international candle
• mineral candle
• new candle
• not worth the candle
• Our Lord's candle
• oxygen candle
• paschal candle
• pillar candle
• Roman candle
• rush candle
• sell by the candle
• standard candle
• sulfur candle
• sulphur candle
• taper candle
• tea candle
• the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long
• the game is not worth the candle
• time candle
• votive candle
• wax-candle
• Yablochkov candle
• yahrzeit candle

 

Related terms

• candela
• candelabrum
• candid
• candidate
• chandelier
• chandler
• chandlery

 

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: kandra
• → Chichewa: kandulo

Translations

a light source

• Abkhaz: ацәымза (acʷəmza)
• Acehnese: lilén
• Afar: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: kers (af)
• Albanian: qiri (sq) m
• Amharic: ቫማ (vama), ሻማ (šama)
• Arabic: شَمْعَة f (šamʕa), قِنْدِيل (ar) m (qindīl)

  Egyptian Arabic: شمع

  Hijazi Arabic: شَمْعَة f (šamʕa)

• Aragonese: espelma f, candela f
• Armenian: մոմ (hy) (mom)
• Aromanian: luminare f, lunjinare f, lumbardã, ayiucheri
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: vela (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: şam (az), mum (az)
• Baluchi: کنڈل
• Bashkir: шәм (şəm), май шәм (may şəm)
• Basque: kandela
• Belarusian: све́чка f (svjéčka)
• Bengali: মোমবাতি (bn) (mōmbati), শামা (bn) (śama)
• Bhojpuri: 𑂧𑂷𑂧𑂥𑂞𑂹𑂞𑂲 (mombattī)
• Bouyei: xugt, sancxugt
• Breton: boujienn (br) f, kantol (br) f
• Bulgarian: свещ (bg) f (svešt)
• Burmese: ဖယောင်းတိုင် (my) (hpa.yaung:tuing)
• Burushaski: شمع
• Catalan: espelma (ca) f, candela (ca) f
• Cebuano: kandila
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Chamicuro: kajchi
• Chechen: чӏурам (čʼuram)
• Chichewa: kandulo
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蠟燭／蜡烛 (laap⁶ zuk¹)

  Dungan: ла (la)

  Eastern Min: 燭／烛 (ciók)

  Hakka: 蠟燭／蜡烛 (la̍p-chuk)

  Hokkien: 蠟燭／蜡烛 (zh-min-nan) (la̍h-chek)

  Mandarin: 蠟燭／蜡烛 (zh) (làzhú), 蠟／蜡 (zh) (là), 燭／烛 (zh) (zhú)

  Northern Min: 蠟燭／蜡烛 (là-cṳ̆)

  Wu: 蠟燭／蜡烛 (⁸laq-tsoq)

• Classical Nahuatl: xīcohcuitlaocōtl
• Coptic: ⲙⲟⲩⲗϩ (moulh)
• Cornish: kantol
• Crimean Tatar: çıraq
• Czech: svíce (cs) f, svíčka (cs) f
• Danish: lys (da), stearinlys (da)
• Dhivehi: އުއްބައްތި (ubbatti)
• Dutch: kaars (nl) f
• Erzya: штатол (štatol)
• Esperanto: kandelo
• Estonian: küünal (et)
• Faroese: kerta f, kertiljós n
• Finnish: kynttilä (fi)
• French: bougie (fr) f, chandelle (fr) f

  Middle French: chandelle f

  Old French: chandoile f

• Friulian: cjandele f, čhandele f
• Galician: candea (gl) f
• Georgian: სანთელი (ka) (santeli)
• German: Kerze (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌿𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌽 (lukarn)
• Greek: κερί (el) n (kerí)

  Ancient: κηρίων m (kēríōn)

• Greenlandic: naneruut
• Gujarati: મીણબત્તી (mīṇbattī)
• Hausa: kyándìr̃ (ha)
• Hawaiian: ihoiho
• Hebrew: נֵר (he) m (ner)
• Hindi: मोमबत्ती (hi) f (mombattī), शमा (hi) f (śamā)
• Hungarian: gyertya (hu)
• Hunsrik: Kerz f
• Icelandic: kerti (is) n
• Ido: kandelo (io), bujio (io)
• Inari Sami: kiintâl
• Indonesian: lilin (id)
• Ingrian: toohus, kyntteli
• Ingush: кӏерам (kʼeram)
• Iranun: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: coinneal (ga) f
• Isthmus Zapotec: guiʼriʼ
• Italian: candela (it) f
• Japanese: 蝋燭 (ja) (ろうそく, rōsoku)
• Javanese: lilin (jv)
• Kalmyk: ла (la)
• Kannada: ಮೋಂಬತ್ತಿ (kn) (mōmbatti)
• Karakalpak: sham
• Kashubian: swiéca f
• Kazakh: шам (şam), май шам (mai şam)
• Ket: dikkit
• Khmer: ទៀន (km) (tiən)
• Korean: 초 (ko) (cho), 양초 (ko) (yangcho), 납촉(蠟燭) (napchok), 랍촉(蠟燭) (rapchok) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: шам (ky) (şam)
• Ladin: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ທຽນ (lo) (thīan)
• Latin: candēla f
• Latvian: svece f
• Lawa:

  Eastern Lawa: ตี-เอิน

• Ligurian: candeja f
• Lithuanian: žvakė (lt) f
• Lombard: candela (lmo) f, candila (lmo) f
• Luxembourgish: Käerz (lb) f, Bougie f
• Macedonian: све́ќа f (svéḱa)
• Magahi: 𑂧𑂷𑂧𑂥𑂞𑂹𑂞𑂲 (mombattī)
• Maguindanao: ransuk
• Maithili: please add this translation if you can
• Malagasy: labozia (mg)
• Malay: lilin (ms)
• Malayalam: മെഴുകുതിരി (ml) (meḻukutiri)
• Maltese: xemgħa f
• Manchu: ᠠᠶᠠᠨ
  ᡩᡝᠩᠵᠠᠨ (ayan dengjan)
• Manx: cainle f
• Maranao: ransok
• Marathi: मेणबत्ती f (meṇbattī)
• Minangkabau: lilin
• Moksha: штатол (štatol)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: лаа (mn) (laa)

  Mongolian: ᠯᠠ (la)

• Nanai: ла (la)
• Navajo: akʼah diltłiʼí, akʼahkǫʼ níyizígíí
• Neapolitan: ceroggeno m
• Nihali: मुम्बत्ति
• Norman: caundèle
• Northern Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Northern Sami: ginttal
• Northern Thai: ᨴ᩠ᨿᩁ (tian)
• Norwegian: lys (no)

  Bokmål: stearinlys (no) n, vokslys n, levende lys n

  Nynorsk: stearinlys n, vokslys n

• Occitan: candèla (oc) f
• Odia: ବତି (or) (bati)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: свѣшта f (svěšta)

• Old East Slavic: свѣча f (svěča)
• Old English: candel f
• Oromo: dungoo
• Ossetian: цырагъ (cyraǧ)
• Ottoman Turkish: موم (mum), شمع (şemʿ)
• Pashto: شمعه f (šam'a)
• Persian:

  Dari: شَمْع (fa) (šam')

  Iranian Persian: شَمْع (fa) (šam')

• Piedmontese: candèila f
• Plautdietsch: Taulchlicht n
• Polabian: swecja f
• Polish: świeca (pl) f, świeczka (pl) f, gromnica (pl) f (blessed candle)
• Portuguese: vela (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਮੋਮਬੱਤੀ (mombattī)

• Quechua: wila
• Rakhine: please add this translation if you can
• Rohingya: mumbatti
• Romagnol: candēla f
• Romani: momeli f
• Romanian: lumânare (ro) f
• Romansch: chandaila f
• Russian: свеча́ (ru) f (svečá), све́чка (ru) f (svéčka)
• Saho: shimca
• Sanskrit: मधुजवर्ती (madhujavartī)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: све́ћа f, свије́ћа f, лоја̀ница f (tallow candle), вошта̀ница f (wax candle)

  Roman: svéća f, svijéća f, lojànica (sh) f (tallow candle), voštànica (sh) f (wax candle)

• Sinhalese: ඉටිපන්දම (iṭipandama), විලක්කුව (wilakkuwa), ඉටිපන්‍දම (iṭipandama)
• Slovak: svieca f, sviečka f
• Slovene: sveča (sl) f
• Somali: shumac m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: swěcka f

  Upper Sorbian: swěčka (hsb) f

• Spanish: vela (es) f, candela (es) f, cirio (es) m (long, thick), espelma (es) f (Latin America), veladora (es) f (Mesoamerica), blandón (es) m (thick), cerilla f (thin, long), cerillo m (thin, long), hachón m (large, thick), hachote m (short, thick), velón (es) m (large)
• Sranan Tongo: kandra
• Swahili: mshumaa (sw) class 3
• Swedish: ljus (sv) n
• Sylheti: please add this translation if you can
• Tabasaran: шам (šam)
• Tagalog: kandila, sasang
• Tajik: шамъ (tg) (šamʾ)
• Tamil: மெழுகுவர்த்தி (ta) (meḻukuvartti), மெழுகுதிரி (ta) (meḻukutiri)
• Tatar: шәм (tt) (şäm)
• Tausug: lansuk
• Telugu: కొవ్వొత్తి (te) (kovvotti)
• Thai: เทียน (th) (tiian)
• Tibetan: ཡང་ལཱ (yang lā), ཚིལ་བཞུ (tshil bzhu)
• Tigrinya: ሽምዓ (šəmʿa)
• Tongan: teʻelango
• Turkish: mum (tr)
• Turkmen: şem (tk)
• Ukrainian: сві́чка (uk) f (svíčka)
• Urdu: موم بَتّی f (mom battī), شَمْع f (śam')
• Uyghur: شام (ug) (sham)
• Uzbek: shamchiroq (uz), sham (uz)
• Vietnamese: nến (vi), đèn cầy (vi)
• Volapük: kandel (vo)
• Welsh: cannwyll f
• Yakan: lansuk
• Yakut: чүмэчи (cümeci)
• Yiddish: ליכט n or f (likht)
• Yucatec Maya: k'aak' che'
• Zhuang: lab, labcuk
• Zulu: ikhandlela sg

Verb

candle (third-person singular simple present candles, present participle candling, simple past and past participle candled)

1. (embryology, transitive) To observe the growth of an embryo inside (an egg), using a bright light source.
2. (pottery, transitive) To dry (greenware) prior to the firing cycle, setting the kiln at 200° Celsius until all water is removed from the greenware.
3. (transitive) To check (an item, such as an envelope) by holding it between a light source and the eye.

Further reading

• “candle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “candle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Declan, calend, lanced