Which is correct: Candlelit dinner or Candlelight dinner?

Please also indicate which country you are from if you give an opinion.

I've always said "candlelight dinner" because you dine by candlelight.
(However - I can see how "candlelit dinner" would work too.)

That if one dines by the light of a candle than one has had a dinner lit by candles. So, does one plan for a candlelight dinner and then reminisce about a candlelit dinner?

Now that I have offered additional confusion, I think I will take a nap.

Maiku where are you when we need you?

Candlelight is a noun - meaning by the light of a candle...

Candlelit is a adjective - means illuminated by candlelight...

So according to Mirriam-Webster the correct terminology is "Candlelit Dinner"

I say "who cares as long as I get one!"

quote:

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Originally posted by Georgia85:
Maiku where are you when we need you?

Candlelight is a noun - meaning by the light of a candle...

Candlelit is a adjective - means illuminated by candlelight...

So according to Mirriam-Webster the correct terminology is "Candlelit Dinner"

I say "who cares as long as I get one!"

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Until Maiku shows up; I also say candlelight is a noun, so candlelight dinner is two nouns, like turkey dinner, therefore correct only in the event one is having a "light"meal. If you are not eating light, I think you are having a candlelit dinner. A dinner by the light of a candle. or number of candles.

I agree with TIE and TCM, who both suggest that you can say either.

"Candlelight" is indeed a noun, Georgia85, but in a phrase like "candlelight dinner" it's being used like an adjective, so the whole phrase is hardly really very different at all from "candlelit dinner."

I think there is a subtle distinction, though. As far as the lovestruck couple are concerned, the romantic event has got to be a candlelight dinner. The same dinner is also candlelit, of course, as TCM observes, but that's describing it from the point of view of a cinematographer, maybe, or maybe even a physicist. The
emphasis is not the same.

I'm not sure what it has to do with the original question, but notice that Beethoven did not and indeed could not have written a "moonlit" sonata. Further, there are moonlit beaches and moonlight swims, but hardly ever the reverse. The moral is that a moonlit x and a moonlight x are not generally exactly the same thing; I'm pretty sure this holds for candlelight and candlelit as well. I think it is probably rash, when discussing English constructions, to conclude that two distinct ones have meanings that are the same in all respects.

Now that the candle is lit, I think I'll eat by the light of it...
In my not so humble opinion, lit is an action word, and couldn't Light up a room if it tried...
I lit the candle, the candle is now lit....but we are eating by the light of the candle..
There is NO way the two can mean the same...