# "Lighted" versus "lit" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405 "2013-01-07T22:28:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/1 "2013-01-07T22:28:08Z")
When I’m using the past tense of the verb “to light”, I say “lit.” Everyone I know does the same. But in some older literature (Dickens and Steinbeck mostly - though I know Steinbeck is perhaps not too “old”) I often come across the word “lighted” - a character “lighted” a lamp, or “lighted” a cigarette, for example. Was this usage (“lighted”) common back then (1800s to mid-1900s)? Is it still in use in any areas today? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/2 "2013-01-08T00:04:45Z")
[Ngram search for lighted vs. lit](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lighted%2C+lit&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=). Both clearly have always been used. Lit became preferred around 1950. I don’t know of any real reason other than usage does these things regularly. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/3 "2013-01-08T00:40:50Z")
“Lighted,” in the sense of descending, e.g. a ladder or horse, is the past tense of “light.” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/4 "2013-01-08T08:35:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Lighted,” in the sense of descending, e.g. a ladder or horse, is the past tense of “light.” Isn’t that just a contraction of _alighted_, like phone from telephone? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/5 "2013-01-08T08:47:32Z")
Lights are what sheep and cows breathe with when we eat 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/6 "2013-01-08T11:15:03Z")
According to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), either can be used interchangeably at any time, both simple past and past participle. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/7 "2013-01-08T13:19:42Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Isn’t that just a contraction of _alighted_, like phone from telephone? I’d call it a shortening, rather than a contraction; you wouldn’t begin it with an apostrophe. But what I meant was, in this context, _lighted_ or _alighted_ would both be correct, but _lit_ would be wrong. You wouldn’t say that someone _lit_ from a horse (correct me if I’m mistaken). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/8 "2013-01-08T13:21:46Z")
There is a (dialect, slang, I don’t know) usage “lit out” for bolting from some place, usually after someone. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/9 "2013-01-08T14:06:01Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Lighted,” in the sense of descending, e.g. a ladder or horse, is the past tense of “light.” This is a different meaning of the word than what is used in the OP (they are homonyms). I can’t find out exactly when they split, but alight (to descend from) comes from one of the meanings of light (the opposite of heavy). ‘Light’ seems to have been used to refer to illumination _and_ non-heaviness since Old English times. ‘Lighted’ as a synonym of ‘lit’ (to make something illuminated) is a perfectly logical morphological construction, but it sounds a little peculiar to our ears nowadays. ‘Lit’ is an irregular verb. What most likely happened is, ‘lit’ endured as a vestigial weak germanic verb during the [Great Vowel Shift](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/10 "2013-01-08T15:02:41Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Lights are what sheep and cows breathe with when we eat 'em. If they’re breathing when you’re eating 'em… you’re doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/11 "2013-01-08T15:42:13Z")
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/12 "2013-01-08T15:43:45Z")
Is this a strong/weak verb thing? I know some weak verbs ended up being conjugated like strong verbs by analogy. Don’t have any of my ling books on me. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/13 "2013-01-08T18:02:32Z")
My observation is that “lit” is used in the Midwest, while “lighted” is used on the East Coast. It’s similar to the “pop” vs “soda” split. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighted-versus-lit/646405/14 "2013-01-08T18:23:11Z")
“Commissioner Gordon **lighted** up the clouds with the Bat Signal, but Bruce Wayne did not notice – he’d been partying all night and was completely **lit**.”