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Can candlelight be in plural contrarily to light? I am wondering if candlelight can be plural when there is many candles contrarily to light, which is an uncountable word. What's the consensus on this?

apaderno
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Sayaman
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    Generally we say ‘in contrast to’ rather than ‘contrarily to’. Good question though! – Fivesideddice May 06 '21 at 11:43
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    "Sources of candlelight" might be your best bet. Or just "several lit candles". – John Doe May 06 '21 at 15:45
  • "Candle flames" would also work if you intended to refer to that specifically. (It might make things sound a bit over-dramatic or poetical, though.) – Admiral Jota May 07 '21 at 13:29
  • If there are many candles, either there is *a candelabra*, or there are many candle *lamps* (not candle *lights*, and not candlelights.) For a "candle lamp", the word "candle" functions as an adjective describing the source of the light - e.g. candle lamp, oil lamp, gas lamp, etc. – alephzero May 08 '21 at 13:02

2 Answers2

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No. To make a lot of light you can have many "lights" (objects that emit light). So the word "light" can be both countable and non-countable, with related but different meaning.

But to make a lot of candlelight, you would have many candles. The countable object is not "a candlelight", it is "a candle".

James K
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    The term "light" may also be used as a countable noun referring to a particular kind of light, but such usage wouldn't typically extend to "candlelight". The parallel to "these images show how objects look when seen in different lights", however, would be "...when seen in different *kinds of* candlelight". – supercat May 06 '21 at 20:36
  • Could you have many candle lights, then? – walen May 07 '21 at 08:44
  • @walen A _light_ typically means a lightbulb or other source of light, such as a torch or an indicator light on a device, or an electric lamp or light fixture in a house. Now, in this usage, _candle light_ **could** mean a candle, though only one that is **explicitly** being used as a light (and the space is required, and would be expressed in speech by a delay between the two words to avoid confusion with _candlelight_). It would be more common however to call a candle in this context simply a _light_. – lukeuser May 07 '21 at 12:54
  • Hm. I would think I have heard "candlelight" used as a synonym for "candle", much like "flashlight" or such. I'll look whether I can find sources. – Peter - Reinstate Monica May 08 '21 at 08:55
  • I could only think of it being used figuratively or as a metonym in that sense. – James K May 08 '21 at 08:58
  • @JamesK Seems like my feeling was wrong ;-). – Peter - Reinstate Monica May 08 '21 at 09:19
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Not really, no.

In general, "candlelight" is an uncountable noun, just like "light" is. If you're reading a book by candlelight, it doesn't matter how many candles are generating the light.

However, there is the unit of measurement called "candelas" which measures the brightness of light (in general), and which is approximately equal to the brightness of a single candle's light. There's also the obsolete unit of luminous intensity called "candlepower" (plural form also being "candlepower", as in "this flashlight has a brightness of 50 candlepower").

nick012000
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    If someone said there were three candlelights, I would assume there were three candles being used for lighting. So it's certainly understandable. I have no clue whether it is *correct*, or whether they should say there were three candles. – user253751 May 06 '21 at 15:27
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    @user253751: I would be confused if someone said "there are three candlelights." I would probably ask "What's a candlelight?" or imagine they mean a small electric candle-shaped thing. Normally one would say "there are three candles", or if it needs to be specified, "there are three lit candles." Or to focus on the light: "The power's out but I have light from three candles." – Nick Matteo May 06 '21 at 16:22
  • @user253751 being of a scientific bent myself, the phrase "three candlelights" would be received as a request for a light source with an intensity of 3 candelas. A strong searchlight might be 2 million candelights. – PcMan May 07 '21 at 14:27
  • I would also think "three candlelights" could mean there are 3 locations where candles can be placed for lighting purposes (even if there are currently no candles there) - similar to "limelights" – user253751 May 07 '21 at 15:08
  • I do see people do this. You can google "candlelights" and see many examples. – Sayaman May 08 '21 at 15:28