That’s how I’ve always understood it. 

I don’t necessarily think it’s an error, only that someone, sometime, somewhere thought  it might have been – so I made a note of it.  I don’t have KGT handy, so I don’t know whether {‘uD’a’} and {‘uD Haqtaj} were listed in KGT.  As a rule I only note the source for the first appearance of words revealed after TKD, and these first appeared in the veS Qonos fan letter.  Can someone check?

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Voragh

From: tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol-bounces@lists.kli.org> On Behalf Of De'vID
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 3:33 AM

On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 at 14:56, Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu> wrote:

Here's what I have in my notes:

'uD             laser (n) KGT
sic for {'uD'a'} - an error from the "official charghwI' list" at the KLI web site [source?]

Why do you think this is an error, as opposed to just the same noun with the suffix {-'a'}?

'uD Haqtaj      laser scalpel (n) (medical device) [HQ 1.3:9 < veS QonoS]

'uD'a'                  laser (n) [HQ 1.3:9 < veS QonoS]

If {'uD'a'} is the correct form, it begs the question: "What is {'uD}?  Perhaps a beam of light?  Or a smallish, low-power laser (suitable for surgical devices), with {'uD'a'} being the more powerful kind used in industry or as a weapon? 

This is how I have understood the definitions, that {'uD} and {'uD'a'} both mean "laser", with the latter being a bigger, more powerful, or more important version of the former.

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De'vID