Word.ws English Dictionary

black

/blæk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/blak/

black adjective: absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

Adjective (1)

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

  1. Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
    • The items around him were black in colour.
    • The scandal of a lie is in a manner lost and annihilated when diffused among several thousands; as a drop of the blackest tincture wears away and vanishes when mixed and confused in a considerable body of water; the blot is still in it, but is not able to discover itself.1712 October 21 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, October 11, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 507; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume...
    Synonyms:
    dark, swart
    Antonyms:
    white, light
  2. Without light.
    Antonyms:
    bright, illuminated, lit
  3. (capitalized, sometimes) 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.)
    • Somebody tell me, what can I do / Something is holding me back / Is it because I'm black?1969, “Is It Because I'm Black”, performed by Syl Johnson
    • I believed that a huge injustice had been perpetrated for hundreds of years on every black man, woman, and child in the United States.1971, Lyndon Johnson, The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 39
    1. (South Africa, UK, US, capitalized, sometimes) Belonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
  4. (historical) Designated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).
    • black drinking fountain; black hospital
  5. Of the spades or clubs suits.
    • I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.
  6. Bad; evil; ill-omened.
    • black magic
    • […] what a black day would that be, when the Ordinances of Jesus Christ should as it were be excommunicated, and cast out of the Church of Christ.1655, Benjamin Needler, Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis., London: N. Webb and W. Grantham, page...
  7. Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen.
    • He shot her a black look.
    • The lassie had grace given her to refuse, but with a woeful heart, and Heriotside rode off in black discontent, leaving poor Ailie to sigh her love. He came back the next day and the next, but aye he got the same answer.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
  8. Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced.
    • Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.1952, The Contemporary Review, volume 182, page 338
  9. Foul; dirty, soiled.
    • Then trip him, that his heeles may kicke at Heauen, / And that his Soule may be as damn'd aud blacke / As Hell, whereto it goes.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  10. (Ireland, informal) Overcrowded.
  11. Without any cream, milk, or creamer.
    • Jim drinks his coffee black, but Ellen prefers it with creamer.
  12. (board games) 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).
    • The black pieces in this chess set are made of dark blue glass.
    • Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 21
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  1. Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color.
    • Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ (“WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX”); ☛ (“BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX”).
  2. Of or pertaining to anarchism; anarchist.
  3. (German) Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.
    • After the election, the parties united in a black-yellow alliance.
  4. Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.
    • 5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to black projects.
    • black operations/black ops; black room; black site
  5. Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.
    • Pope Joan, who once occupied the throne of the Vatican, was reputed to be the blackest sorcerer of them all.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 105
    • But a hel-rúne was one who knew secret black knowledge – and the association of hell with the dead shows that the gloss in O.H.G. 'necromancia' is very close.2014, J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 168
  6. (Ireland, derogatory) Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic. (Compare blackmouth ("Presbyterian").)
    • the Black North
    • the Royal Black Institution
  7. Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or black).
    • the black knight; black bile
    1. (especially) Dark in comparison to another species with the same base name.
      • black birch; black locust; black rhino
  8. (Singapore, Singlish) Sullen and solemn; bad-tempered and unhappy.
    • They gave up trying to talk to me. Ever since I gave them that big scolding. But every time they see me, all face black black.2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene x, page 46

Noun (1)

black (countable and uncountable, plural blacks)

  1. The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.
    • Black is the badge of hell, / The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This four component color system is standard for most types of color printing, since black is an ink color in printing but is simply the absence of color in video.2009, Harry Henderson, Computer Science and Technology, Revised edition, →ISBN, page 93
    Synonyms:
    blackness
    Antonyms:
    whiteness
  2. A black dye or pigment.
    Antonyms:
    white
  3. (countable) A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
  4. (in plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.
    • Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.1625, Francis Bacon, “Of Death”, in Essays
  5. (capitalized, countable, offensive, often, sometimes) A member or descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
    • "How! They surely cannot pretend that the black is an Englishman?" "There are all kinds of Englishmen, black and white, when seamen grow scarce. […]"1863, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter XXIV, in Miles Wallingford
    • But presently the negro seized the Hindoo by the throat; the Hindoo just pricked him in the arm with his knife, and the next moment his own head was driven against the side of the cabin with a stunning crack[…]The cabin was now full, and Sharpe was for putting both the blacks in irons.1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash
    Synonyms:
    BIPOC, BME, colored, colored person, minority, nonwhite, person of color
  6. (informal, uncountable) Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.
    • black don't crack
  7. (countable) The black ball.
  8. (countable) The edge of home plate.
  9. (UK, countable) A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
  10. (UK, informal, uncountable) Blackcurrant syrup or crème de cassis used for cocktails.
    • Pernod and black; snakebite and black; cider and black
  11. (countable) The person playing with the black set of pieces.
    • At this point black makes a disastrous move.
    • 1...Qd3 2 Ne1 Nd2! wins since 3 Nxd3 Rxf1 mate while 3 Qxc7+ Kg6 only delays the end. The best White can do is 3 Qc3+ Qxc3 4 Rxc3 Rxe1 when Black also wins the Bf1 and will be two pieces up.2023 January 13, Leonard Barden, “Chess: Carlsen takes on young guns at Wijk as world champion eyes record”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 23 Jan 2023
  12. (countable) Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.
    • the black or sight of the eye1644, Kenelme [i.e., Kenelm] Digby, Two Treatises. In the One of which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans Soule; is Looked into: In Way of Discovery, of the Immortality of...
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  1. (countable, obsolete) A stain; a spot.
    • defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust1619, William Rowley, All's Lost by Lust
  2. A dark smut fungus, harmful to wheat.
  3. (US, slang) Marijuana.
    • He pulled on the black, the tip of the filter hot and malleable between his lips, and felt a cool tingling coat the simmer in his chest and begin to eat away at it in small bites.2008, Jesmyn Ward, Where the Line Bleeds, Bloomsbury (2018), page 48
  4. The blackened, burned-out area at the centre of a fire.
    • The black is always the safest place for a firefighter.2024, Karl Brauneis, The Blackwater Fire and the Men Who Fought It
    • The black is a safe zone for retreating firefighters. It is an area already burned out by a fire without the raw or dead fuels needed for a fire to feed on.2013, Jaylynn Wylie, Fireline

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To make black; to blacken.
    • "I don't want to fight; but you are a mean, dirty blackguard, or you wouldn't have treated a girl like that," replied Tommy, standing as stiff as a stake before the bully.
      "Say that again, and I'll black your eye for you."1859, Oliver Optic, Poor and Proud; or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn, a Story for Young Folks
    • Ted, you can black your face, and dye your hair, and squint, and some fine day, sooner or later, somebody'll come along and blab the whole thing.1911, Edna Ferber, Buttered Side Down
    Synonyms:
    blacken, darken, swarten
  2. (transitive) To apply blacking to (something).
    • […] he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must black his own brogans (for he will not be able to buy boots).1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin
    • But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I black your boots for you?"1861, George William Curtis, Trumps: A Novel
  3. (UK, transitive) To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
    • The plants were blacked by the Transport and General Workers' Union and a consumer boycott was organised; both activities contributed to what the union saw as a victory.2003, Alun Howkins, The Death of Rural England, page 175

Proper noun capitalized: Black

Black (countable and uncountable, plural Blacks)

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.
  2. A town in Geneva County, Alabama.
  3. An unincorporated community in Edwards County, Illinois.
  4. A township in Posey County, Indiana; from the surname.
  5. An unincorporated community in Reynolds County, Missouri.
  6. A township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania; from the surname.
  7. An unincorporated community in Mercer County and Wyoming County, West Virginia.

Adjective (2) capitalized: Black

Black (not comparable)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of black (“of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin”).
    • It contained an article written by Lacy Banko summarizing the work of Dr. Herbert Hendin, who had done a comparative study on suicide among Black people in the major American cities. Dr. Hendin found that the suicide rate among Black men between the ages of nineteen and thirty-five had doubled in...1973, Huey P. Newton, J. Herman Blake, Revolutionary Suicide, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, →ISBN, page 3
    • A group of Black women came in later but only observed from the sidelines.1986, Chaya Shalom, “The only dyke from Israel”, in Off Our Backs, volume 16, number 8, →JSTOR, page 26

Noun (2) capitalized: Black

Black (plural Blacks)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of black (“person having dark pigmentation of the skin”).
    • By 2016, however, a divide that started appearing in the preceding few years came into full relief—that year, 29% of nonwhite liberals (28% of nonwhite Democrats) and 38% of Black liberals (34% of Black Democrats), disagreed that “Blacks should work their way up without special favors.”2022 May 2, Zachary Goldberg, “Explaining Shifts in White Racial Liberalism: The Role of Collective Moral Emotions and Media Effects”, in Georgia State University, archived from the original on 25...
  2. The player moving the black pieces.
    • Unless the arbiter decides otherwise, ranks from White to Black shall be given the German numbers.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, archived from the original on 16 Mar 2025, page 24

black meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

black in Hindi

absorbing all light
काला kālā, कारौ kārau
dark-skinned person — see also Negro
हबशी habśī
colour/color
काला kālā

black in Tamil

playing cards: of the spades or clubs
கருப்பு karuppu
of coffee or tea, without milk or other whitener
வற vaṟa, கட்டை kaṭṭai
absorbing all light
கருப்பு karuppu
without light
கருப்பு karuppu, இருட்டு iruṭṭu, இருள் iruḷ

black in Marathi

absorbing all light
काळा kāḷā, काळी kāḷī, काळे kāḷe

black in Urdu

absorbing all light
کالا kālā, سِیاہ siyāh
chess, checkers etc.: color opposing "white"
کالا kālā
dark-skinned person — see also Negro
زَن٘گی zaṅgī
colour/color
کالا kālā, سِیاہ siyāh
More languagesFewer languages
black in Bengali
কালো kalō, কাল kal
black in Telugu
నల్ల nalla, నల్లని nallani, చీకటి cīkaṭi, నలుపు nalupu
black in Malayalam
കറുപ്പ് kaṟuppŭ
black in Kannada
ಕಪ್ಪು kappu
black in Punjabi
ਕਾਲਾ kālā
black in Gujarati
કાળું kāḷũ
black in Odia
କଲା kalā
black in Sanskrit
कृष्ण kṛṣṇa, काला kālā
black in Sinhala
කළු kaḷu
black in Assamese
ক’লা koöla, কুলা kula
black in Nepali
कालो kālo
black in Pashto
تور
black in Tagalog
itim, negro
black in Arabic
أَسْوَد ʔaswad, سَوْدَاء sawdāʔ, سُود sūd, اسود eswid
black in Malay
hitam, aswad, lotong, lutung
black in Indonesian
hitam, kelam, legam, gelap
black in Persian
سِیاه siyâh, سِیاهپوسْت siyâh-pust, زَنْگی zangi
black in Thai
ดำ dam, คนผิวดำ kon-pǐu-dam, สีดำ sǐi-dam
black in Vietnamese
đen, đen thui, màu đen, tối
black in Myanmar
နက် nak, မည်း many:, အနက် a.nak, အမည်း a.many:
Sindhi
ڪارو kāro
Dzongkha
གནགཔོ gngpo

Examples of black in a sentence

  • Speaking of round sunglasses, these lightweight polarized ones and come in two shades of tortoiseshell as well as black and bronze.2023 June 26, Lauren Caruso and Jillian Tracy, “The 22 best sunglasses for summer, according to style experts”, in CNN, archived from the...
  • I am a young, light-skinned black woman, and truer words were never written of the problem we light-skinned blacks have had to live with.1975 May, Terry Hodges, Ebony, page 10:
  • The country’s first black president, and its first president to reach adulthood after the Vietnam War and Watergate, Mr.2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in The New York Times, archived from the...
  • She had seen so much of the blacker side of human nature that blackness no longer startled her as it should do.1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

All 40 example sentences with black

Synonyms of black

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of black

Forms of black

Adjective
comparativeblacker
comparativemore black
superlativeblackest
superlativemost black
alternative formBlack
alternative formblk
alternative formblak
alternative form (obsolete)blacke
Noun
pluralblacks
pluralBlacks
Verb
third-person singular presentblacks
present participleblacking
past participleblacked
pastblacked
Proper noun
pluralBlacks

Past tense of black: blacked

Plural of black: blacks

Origin of 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”).

From Middle English blak (“black”). Also a variant of Blake, from Old English blāc (“pale”) and Blanc, from Old French blanc (“white”).

Capitalized to follow the usual capitalization patterns for ethnic groups (compare e.g. Hispanic, Arab), and also, perhaps, as a way to explicitly distinguish it from the color sense, which is not capitalized outside proper nouns.

Words formed from black

Phrases with black

177 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with black

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about black

What does black mean?
Black means absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
What is black in Hindi?
Black in Hindi is काला (kālā), कारौ (kārau), हबशी (habśī). See Black meaning in Hindi.
How do you use black in a sentence?
Speaking of round sunglasses, these lightweight polarized ones and come in two shades of tortoiseshell as well as black and bronze.
What part of speech is black?
Black can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce black?
Black is pronounced /blæk/ (UK).

Words near black in the dictionary

  1. blaccents
  2. blachang
  3. Blachernae
  4. Blachman
  5. blachong
  6. black
  7. black abalone
  8. black abalones
  9. black ace
  10. black aces
  11. black acre

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: black (page history and authors); Black (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-Black.ogg, en-uk-black.ogg.

Cite this entry: “black.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/black. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.