English Explanatory Dictionary

black

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
  2. Without light.
  3. Belonging to or descended from any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc.) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. (See usage notes below.)
  4. Belonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
  5. Designated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).
  6. Of the spades or clubs suits.
  7. Bad; evil; ill-omened.
  8. Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen.
  9. Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced.
  10. Foul; dirty, soiled.
  11. Overcrowded.
  12. Without any cream, milk, or creamer.
noun
  1. The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.
  2. A black dye or pigment.
  3. A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
  4. Black cloth hung up at funerals.
  5. A member or descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
  6. Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.
  7. The black ball.
  8. The edge of home plate.
  9. A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
  10. Blackcurrant syrup or crème de cassis used for cocktails.
  11. The person playing with the black set of pieces.
  12. Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.
verb
  1. To make black; to blacken.
  2. To apply blacking to (something).
  3. To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
name
  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.
  2. A number of places in the United States:
  3. A town in Geneva County, Alabama.
  4. An unincorporated community in Edwards County, Illinois.
  5. A township in Posey County, Indiana; from the surname.
  6. An unincorporated community in Reynolds County, Missouri.
  7. A township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania; from the surname.
  8. An unincorporated community in Mercer County and Wyoming County, West Virginia.
adj
  1. Alternative letter-case form of black (“of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin”).
noun
  1. Alternative letter-case form of black (“person having dark pigmentation of the skin”).
  2. The player moving the black pieces.

Pronunciation

blăk /blæk/ en-uk-black.ogg en-Black.ogg

Word forms

black blacker more black blackest most black blacke blk blak blacks blacking blacked

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *blakaz Proto-West Germanic *blak Old English blæc Middle English blak English black From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”). See also Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”); also compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”). Adjective sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).

Synonyms

atramental atramentous black black as a dog's guts black as coal black as Newgate's knocker black as night black as the ace of spades black as thunder coal black ebon inky jetty negro nigrous obsidian pitch-dark pitch-black pitchy raven sable sabled dark swart gloomy blear caliginous cimmerian crepuscular darksome darkling dim dimpsy dingy dull dusky fuliginous infernal leaden lightless mirksome murky murksome obscure shady somber sombrous stygian sunless swarthy tenebrose tenebrous twilightish umbrageous unilluminated blackness blacken darken swarten blackball

Antonyms

white light bright illuminated lit whiteness

Related words

blackamoor blackavised blackberry blackbird blacken blackness forblack achromatic colorless dark black eye shiner jet ink ebony pitch soot charcoal sloe smut crow coal chimney sweep black color dark colour person of color café noir calamander chernozem melancholy melena nigrescence nigrosine rouge et noir skean-dhu Blackie Blacky

Derived words

All Blacks American black bear American black duck American black vulture antiblack anti-black Argentine black and white tegu Arizona black walnut Asian black bear Asian black birch Asian black rat beyond the black stump bible-black blaccent black abalone black ace Blackacre blackademic black advance black Africa black alder black alder winterberry black amber blackamoor black and blue black and brown black and burst black and gold garden spider Black and Tan black-and-tan black-and-white black and white Helen black and white tegu black and white village black and white warbler black-and-yellow grosbeak Blackanese Black Angus black ant black antimony black antshrike black ape black arched moth black-arched moth black aristocracy Black Army black art black as a dog's guts black as coal black ash black as ink black as my hat black as Newgate's knocker black as night black-assed blackassed black as tar black as the ace of spades black as thunder black as your hat

Translations

Danish: sort Dutch: zwart Finnish: musta French: noir Galician: só German: schwarz Greek: σκέτος Hungarian: fekete Macedonian: црн Mizo: sen Norwegian Bokmål: svart Portuguese: preto Romanian: negru Russian: чёрный Spanish: negro Swedish: svart Tamil: வற Tamil: கட்டை Turkish: katran
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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