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light beer

light beer

9 2.6
A kind of beer with less alcohol and fewer calories than regular beer
  • noun
  • /laɪt bɪr/
translation icon : cerveza ligera
  • At the picnic, everyone enjoyed a refreshing light beer on a hot day.
  • drink light beer
  • light beer with reduced calories
  • tastes like a light beer

So let's see if the light beers actually taste different than the Poots.

Examples

  • Can I have a light beer, Pete?

  • As I was sitting there, sipping a light beer and waiting for my order, the owner limped past me.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Hey, you got any light beer?

  • And I'll have, uh, a light beer or something.

  • Uh, I'll have a light beer, no glass.

  • You don't like light beer?

  • Walt gestured at the waitress and called out an order: light beer for Diana, regular for himself and Bill.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • She comes home most evenings eager only for a light beer and something nonthreatening on TV.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • He instructed Elspeth to open two bottles of light beer, and soon they were seated at the table in the living room.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • I drank no alcoholic beverages until I went to Germany, and there I drank light beer and Rhine wine.

How Alcoholic

strong drink
3 3.4
light beer
9 2.6
near beer
  • Archaic
1 5.1

Surface Forms

light beer singular
light beers plural

Morphology

light + beer

The meaning 'a beer with reduced alcohol/calories' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'light' (containing fewer calories/mild) with 'beer' (the beverage). This adjective+noun compositional pattern is common across languages and follows standard modification rules, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Light beer gets its name from the word light, meaning not heavy, used with beer to show a drink made with 'less alcohol' and 'fewer calories'. That's why today light beer means a beer that is easier to drink and lower in calories.