Usage Note
Lumière is used both literally (sunlight, lamplight) and figuratively (the light of knowledge). The plural les Lumières refers specifically to the Enlightenment — France's 18th-century philosophical movement that profoundly shaped Western thought. The brothers Lumière famously invented the cinematograph in 1895.
Examples
"La lumière du soleil est douce."
Natural Translation
The sunlight is gentle.
Literal Translation
The light of the sun is gentle.
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