traffic light
/ˈtɹæˌfɪk laɪt/
"traffic-light" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“traffic 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
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A signalling device positioned at a road intersection or pedestrian crossing indicating the moment it is safe to drive, ride or walk, using a universal color code.
Corpus desk
Index EN-traffic-light · traffic light · English
traffic light · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" 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 | traffic light |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɹæˌfɪk laɪt/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “traffic light” in English
Rare enough to double-check
traffic light is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɹæˌfɪk laɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for traffic light in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is traffic light, spelled T-R-A-F-F-I-C- -L-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1A signalling device positioned at a road intersection or pedestrian crossing indicating the moment it is safe to drive, ride or walk, using a universal color code.
- 2A signalling device positioned at a road intersection or pedestrian crossing indicating the moment it is safe to drive, ride or walk, using a universal color code.
- 3A colour code using the three signals of a traffic light (green, yellow or amber, and red) as a metaphor.
- 4The colored dots on stamp sheet margins printed with offset printing or photogravure methods, used by the printers to check color accuracy.
- 5In Conway's Game of Life, an arrangement of four blinkers that are orthogonally equidistant from a central point.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how traffic light appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In Sydney you'd better be riding the clutch and completely in sync with the traffic lights so that your car is already moving as they turn green.
How do I get to the hospital? ~ You go straight on to the traffic lights, then turn left at the traffic lights and the hospital is on your right.
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.