black

pronunciation

How to pronounce black in British English: UK [blæk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce black in American English: US [blæk] word us audio image

Noun:

the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)
total absence of light
(board games) the darker pieces
black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)
Verb:

make or become black
Adjective:

being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin
marked by anger or resentment or hostility
stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable
offering little or no hope
(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin
(of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood
extremely dark
harshly ironic or sinister
(of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading
distributed or sold illicitly
(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
(of coffee) without cream or sugar
dressed in black
soiled with dirt or soot

Word Origin

black: black: [OE] The usual Old English word for ‘black’ was sweart (source of modern English swart and swarthy, and related to German schwarz ‘black’), but black already existed (Old English blæc), and since the Middle English period it has replaced swart. Related but now extinct forms existed in other Germanic languages (including Old Norse blakkr ‘dark’ and Old Saxon blac ‘ink’), but the word’s ultimate source is not clear. Some have compared it with Latin flagrāre and Greek phlégein, both meaning ‘burn’, which go back to an Indo-European base *phleg-, a variant of *bhleg-.

black (adj.): Old English blæc "dark," from Proto-Germanic *blakaz "burned" (cognates: Old Norse blakkr "dark," Old High German blah "black," Swedish bläck "ink," Dutch blaken "to burn"), from PIE *bhleg- "to burn, gleam, shine, flash" (cognates: Greek phlegein "to burn, scorch," Latin flagrare "to blaze, glow, burn"), from root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn;" see bleach (v.). The same root produced Old English blac "bright, shining, glittering, pale;" the connecting notions being, perhaps, "fire" (bright) and "burned" (dark). The usual Old English word for "black" was sweart (see swart). According to OED: "In ME. it is often doubtful whether blac, blak, blake, means 'black, dark,' or 'pale, colourless, wan, livid.' " Used of dark-skinned people in Old English. Of coffee, first attested 1796. Meaning "fierce, terrible, wicked" is late 14c. The color of sin and sorrow since at least c. 1300; sense of "with dark purposes, malignant" emerged 1580s (as in black magic). Black face in reference to a performance style originated in U.S., is from 1868. Black flag, flown (especially by pirates) as a signal of "no mercy," from 1590s. Black dog "melancholy" attested from 1826. Black belt is from 1875 in reference to districts of the U.S. South with heaviest African population; 1870 with reference to fertility of soil; 1913 in judo sense. Black power is from 1966, associated with Stokely Carmichael.

black (v.): c. 1200, "to become black;" early 14c., "to make black, darken;" from black (adj.). Related: Blacked; blacking.

black (n.): Old English blæc "the color black," also "ink," from noun use of black (adj.). From late 14c. as "dark spot in the pupil of the eye." The meaning "black person, African" is from 1620s (perhaps late 13c., and blackamoor is from 1540s). To be in the black (1922) is from the accounting practice of recording credits and balances in black ink. For years it has been a common practice to use red ink instead of black in showing a loss or deficit on corporate books, but not until the heavy losses of 1921 did the contrast in colors come to have a widely understood meaning. ["Saturday Evening Post," July 22, 1922]