black

CEFRA1

/blæk/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    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.)

Examples

  • Did you buy it on the black market?

  • She was wearing a black hat.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Without light.

  2. Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

  3. Of the spades or clubs suits.

More examples

In context

  • I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.

  • The items around him were black in colour.

  • The black of the night sky

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The cat was completely blank, blending perfectly with the dark night.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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”).