\kan-^▐dē-lә, -^▐de-, -^▐dā-; ^▐kan-dә-lә\ n [L, candle] (1949) (cd) One of the six basic units of the SI system, the unit of luminous intensity, defined as the luminous intensity normal to the surface of 1/60 of a square centimeter of a black body at the temperature of freezing platinum (1,772°C) under a pressure of 101.325 kPa. In older literature, the same abbreviation has been used for both candlepower and candle, which have different values.