black

English Online Dictionary. What means black‎? What does black mean?

English

Alternative forms

• blacke (obsolete)
• Black, (Internet slang) blk (race-related)
• blak (Australian Indigenous)

Etymology

From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”)). More at bleak.

Pronunciation

• enPR: blăk, IPA^(key): /blæk/
• Rhymes: -æk
• Hyphenation: black

Adjective

black (comparative blacker or more black, superlative blackest or most black)

2. (of an object) Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

   Synonyms: dark, swart; see also Thesaurus:black

   Antonyms: white, light

3. (of a location or setting) Without light.

   Synonyms: dark, gloomy; see also Thesaurus:dark

   Synonyms: bright, illuminated, lit

5. (sometimes capitalized) 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.)
   1. (US, UK, South Africa) Belonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
6. (chiefly historical) Designated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).

7. (card games, of a card) Of the spades or clubs suits.

   Coordinate term: red (“of the hearts or diamonds suits”)

8. Bad; evil; ill-omened.
9. Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen.
10. (of objects or markets) Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced.
11. Foul; dirty, soiled.
12. (Ireland, informal) Overcrowded.
14. (of coffee or tea) Without any cream, milk, or creamer.

15. (board games, chess) Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess, the set used by the player who moves second) (often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).

17. (typography) Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color.

    Coordinate term: white

18. (politics) Of or pertaining to anarchism; anarchist.
19. (German politics) Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

20. Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.

21. Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.
22. (Ireland, now derogatory) Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic. (Compare blackmouth ("Presbyterian").)

    the Black North ― Ulster

    • 1841 March 20, "Intelligence; Catholicity in Ulster" Catholic Herald (Bengal), Vol. 2 No. 1, p. 27:

      Even in the "black North"—in " Protestant Ulster"—Catholicity is progressing at a rate that must strike terror into its enemies, and impart pride and hope to the professors of the faith of our sainted forefathers.

    • 1914 May 27, "Review of The North Afire by W. Douglas Newton", The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, volume 86, page t:

      Now April's brother, once also holding a commission in that regiment, was an Ulster Volunteer, her father a staunch, black Protestant, her family tremulously "loyal" to the country whose Parliament was turning them out of its councils.
23. Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or black).
    1. (taxonomy, especially) Dark in comparison to another species with the same base name.

Usage notes

• In the United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa, black typically refers to people of African descent, including indirect African descent via the Caribbean, and including those with light skin. In Australia, Aboriginal Australians are often referred to as or identify as black. In New Zealand, Maori people are sometimes referred to as or identify as black.
• Some style guides recommend capitalizing Black in reference to the racial group, while others advise using lowercase (black); lowercase is more common.

Derived terms

(biology: having features darker than closely related organisms):

(other senses):

Related terms

Descendants

• Bislama: blak
• Sranan Tongo: blaka
  • Aukan: baaka
  • → Caribbean Hindustani: blaaka
• Tok Pisin: blak
• Torres Strait Creole: blaik
• → Dutch: black
• → French: black
• → Greek: μπλάκης (blákis)

Translations

Noun

black (countable and uncountable, plural blacks)

1. (countable and uncountable) The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.

   Synonym: blackness

   Antonym: whiteness
2. (countable and uncountable) A black dye or pigment.

   Antonym: white

3. (countable) A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
4. (in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.
6. (countable, sometimes capitalised, often offensive) A member of descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
7. (uncountable, informal) Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.

8. (countable, billiards, snooker, pool) The black ball.
9. (countable, baseball) The edge of home plate.
10. (countable, British) A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
11. (countable, informal) Short for blackcurrant.
    1. (chiefly UK) Blackcurrant as syrup or crème de cassis used for cocktails.
12. (countable, chess) The person playing with the black set of pieces.

13. (countable) Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.
14. (obsolete, countable) A stain; a spot.
15. A dark smut fungus, harmful to wheat.
16. (US, slang) Marijuana.

Usage notes

• Use of the noun black to refer to a person is often considered offensive, especially in the singular, and several guides and dictionaries recommend against its usage. It is more appropriate to use "a Black person" or "Black people" in the place of "a Black" or "the Blacks", respectively.
• See the usage notes in the adjective section regarding the capitalization and scope of the term.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: ブラック (burakku)
• → Volapük: bläg

Translations

Verb

black (third-person singular simple present blacks, present participle blacking, simple past and past participle blacked)

1. (transitive) To make black; to blacken.

   Synonyms: blacken, darken, swarten
2. (transitive) To apply blacking to (something).
3. (British, transitive) To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.

   Synonyms: blackball, blacklist; see also Thesaurus:boycott

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• (blacks) black; atrous, chocolate black, coal (coal black), colly, corbeau, crow/crow-black, ebony, inky, jet (jess, jet-black), licorice, midnight, nigrous, inky, obsidian, onyx, outer space, perse, pitch/pitch-black, raisin black, raven, sable, slate black, smoky black, Vantablack ^{(Category: en:Blacks)}

References

• “black”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• black in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “black”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Further reading

• black on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English black.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blak/
• Hyphenation: black

Adjective

black (plural blacks)

1. (relational) of black people or culture

   Synonym: noir

Noun

black m or f by sense (plural blacks)

1. black person

   Synonym: noir

Middle English

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: black

Adjective

black

1. Alternative form of blak

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: black

Noun

black c

1. a clog (weight such as a block of wood, attached to a human or animal to hinder motion)
2. (figuratively, in "en black om foten" (a clog around the foot)) a ball and chain, a millstone round one's neck

Declension

Further reading

• Black (horse color) on the Swedish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^sv

Adjective

black (not comparable)

1. dun (of a horse)
2. broke (without money)

   Synonym: pank

Declension

References

• black in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• black in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• black in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)