green light
"green-light" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“green light” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A traffic light in its green state (indicating that vehicles may proceed).
Corpus desk
Index EN-green-light · green light · English
green light · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | green light |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “green light” in English
Rare enough to double-check
green light is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for green light, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the standard red-green color scheme used in traffic lights and railway signals. The correct English form is green light, spelled G-R-E-E-N- -L-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1A traffic light in its green state (indicating that vehicles may proceed).
- 2Approval, or permission to proceed.
- 3A go-ahead to commit a crime, specifically to carry out a hit on someone (i.e. to kill).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how green light appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The drive home was much faster than usual; somehow we managed to hit every green light.
We have a green light on the project. Work starts today.
Etymology
From the standard red-green color scheme used in traffic lights and railway signals.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.