Light-weight or lightweight?
light-weight is a noun meaning “Alternative form of lightweight”; lightweight is a noun meaning “A particular weight class, or member of such, as prescribed by the rules…”. light-weight is written with a hyphen and lightweight as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between light-weight and lightweight?
| light-weight | lightweight | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective | noun, adjective, verb |
| Meaning | Alternative form of lightweight | A particular weight class, or member of such, as prescribed by the rules, between that of the heavier welterweight and the lighter featherweight. See Wikipedia… A particular weight category as prescribed by the rules, separate from an open or heavyweight class Lacking in earnestness, ability, or profundity |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | light-weights | lightweights |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈlaɪt.weɪt/ /laɪtˈweɪt/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 6.0 times per million words |
Sources: light-weight and lightweight in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of light-weight and lightweight
light-weight
- 1
Alternative form of lightweight
- 2
Alternative form of lightweight
lightweight
- 1
A particular weight class, or member of such, as prescribed by the rules, between that of the heavier welterweight and the lighter featherweight. See Wikipedia for the specifics of each sport
- 2
Lacking in earnestness, ability, or profundity
- 3
To reduce the amount or weight of
- 4
A particular weight category as prescribed by the rules, separate from an open or heavyweight class
- 5
Having less than average weight
- 6
A competitive weight division as prescribed by the rules, between the heavier middleweight and the lighter featherweight
- 7
Lacking in strength
- 8
One of little consequence or ability
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, light-weight or lightweight?
light-weight is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; lightweight 6.0 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search light-weight vs lightweight?
“light-weight vs lightweight” is searched about 20 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“lightweight vs light-weight”, “light-weight or lightweight”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.