View source for black

{{also|Black|bläck}}
==English==
{{multiple images
| direction = vertical
| image1    = Color icon black.svg
| caption1  = Various shades of '''black''' ({{senseno|en|colorless}}).
| image2    = Pele - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2006.jpg
| caption2  = A '''black''' man ({{senseno|en|skin color}}).
| image3    = A small cup of coffee.JPG
| caption3  = A cup of '''black''' coffee ({{senseno|en|coffee}}).
}}

===Alternative forms===
* {{alt|en|blacke||obsolete}}
* {{alt|en|Black|blk<q:Internet slang>||race-related}}
* {{alt|en|blak||Australian Indigenous}}

===Etymology===
From {{inh|en|enm|blak}}, {{m|enm|black}}, {{m|enm|blake}}, from {{inh|en|ang|blæc||black, dark", ''also'' "ink}}, from {{inh|en|gmw-pro|*blak}}, from {{inh|en|gem-pro|*blakaz||burnt}} (compare {{cog|nl|blaken||to burn}}, {{cog|nds|blak, black||blackness, black paint, (black) ink}},<ref>https://www.koeblergerhard.de/mnd/mnd_b.html</ref> {{cog|goh|blah||black}}), possibly from {{inh|en|ine-pro|*bʰleg-||to burn, shine}} (compare {{cog|la|flagro|flagrāre|to burn}}, {{cog|grc|φλόξ|t=flame}}, {{cog|sa|भर्ग||radiance}}). More at {{m|en|bleak}}.

Sense 20 is a {{sl|en|yue|黑面|nocap=1|tr=hak1 min6|t=to pull a long face, to scowl}}.

===Pronunciation===
* {{enPR|blăk}}, {{IPA|en|/blæk/}}
* {{audio|en|en-uk-black.ogg|a=UK}}
* {{audio|en|en-Black.ogg|a=US}}
* {{rhymes|en|æk|s=1}}
* {{hyph|en|black}}

===Adjective===
{{en-adj|er|more}}

# {{senseid|en|colorless}} {{lb|en|of an object}} [[absorb|Absorbing]] all [[light]] and [[reflect]]ing none; [[dark]] and [[hue]]less.
#: {{syn|en|dark|swart|Thesaurus:black}}
#: {{ant|en|white|light}}
# {{lb|en|of a location or setting}} Without [[light]].
#: {{syn|en|dark|gloomy|Thesaurus:dark}}
#: {{syn|en|bright|illuminated|lit}}
# {{senseid|en|skin color}} {{lb|en|sometimes|capitalized}} [[belong|Belonging]] to or [[descend]]ed from any of various ([[African]], [[Aboriginal]], etc.) [[ethnic group]]s which [[typically]] have [[dark]] [[pigmentation]] of the [[skin]]. {{q|See usage notes below.}}
#* {{quote-song|en|artist=w:Syl Johnson|title=Is It Because I'm Black|year=1969|passage=Somebody tell me, what can I do / Something is holding me back / Is it because I'm '''black'''?}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1971|author=w:Lyndon Johnson|title=w:The Vantage Point| url=https://archive.org/details/vantagepointpers00john/| publisher=w:Holt, Reinhart & Winston| ISBN=0-03-084492-4| LCCN=74-102146| OCLC=1067880747| |page=39| pageurl=https://archive.org/details/vantagepointpers00john/page/39/| text=I believed that a huge injustice had been perpetrated for hundreds of years on every '''black''' man, woman, and child in the United States.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|year=1975|month=May|author=Terry Hodges|journal=Ebony|page=10| passage=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. The article explains in-depth what it's like.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|date=November 7, 2012|author=Matt Bai|title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds| work=New York Times| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/us/politics/in-president-obamas-second-term-familiar-challenges.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0| passage=The country’s first '''black''' president, and its first president to reach adulthood after the Vietnam War and Watergate, Mr. Obama seemed like a digital-age leader who could at last dislodge the stalemate between those who clung to the government of the Great Society, on the one hand, and those who disdained the very idea of government, on the other.}}
## {{lb|en|US|UK|South Africa}} [[belong|Belonging]] to or [[descended]] from any of various [[sub-Saharan]] [[African]] [[ethnic group]]s which typically have [[dark]] [[pigmentation]] of the [[skin]].
# {{lb|en|chiefly|historical}} [[designate|Designated]] for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).
#: {{co|en|'''black''' drinking fountain; '''black''' hospital}}
# {{lb|en|card games|of a card}} Of the [[spades]] or [[clubs]] [[suit]]s.
#: {{cot|en|red<t:of the hearts or diamonds suits>}}
#: {{ux|en|I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the '''black''' queens.}}
# {{cap|bad}}; [[evil]]; [[ill-omened]].
#: {{co|en|[[black magic|'''black''' magic]]}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1655|author=Benjamin Needler|title=Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis.|location=London|publisher=N. Webb and W. Grantham|page=168| passage={{...}} 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.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1749|author=Henry Fielding|title=The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|passage=Nor were there wanting some, who, after the departure of Jenny, insinuated that she was spirited away with a design too '''black''' to be mentioned, and who gave frequent hints that a legal inquiry ought to be made into the whole matter, and that some people should be forced to produce the girl.}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1861|author=w:Anthony Trollope|title=Framley Parsonage| passage=She had seen so much of the '''blacker''' side of human nature that blackness no longer startled her as it should do.}}
# [[express|Expressing]] [[menace]] or [[discontent]]; [[threatening]]; [[sullen]].
#: {{ux|en|He shot her a '''black''' look.}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1902|author=w:John Buchan|title=The Outgoing of the Tide| passage=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.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1907|author=Ronald M. Burrows|title=The Discoveries In Crete|page=14|text=We see the impression that the perils of these unknown seas made on Minoan art in a clay seal impression that comes from Knossos. A sea monster, with head and jaws like a dog's, is rising from the waves and attacking a boatman who stands defending himself in his skiff. {{...}} This is the '''black''' side of the sense of "the magic and the mystery of the sea" that finds a lighter expression in the octopus and sea-shell designs of the vases, and the flying fish on porcelain and frescoes.}}
# {{lb|en|of objects or markets}} [[illegitimate|Illegitimate]], [[illegal]]{{,}} or [[disgrace]]d.
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1952|title=The Contemporary Review|volume=182|page=338
|passage=Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the '''black''' market was flourishing.}}
# {{cap|foul}}; [[dirty]], [[soiled]].
#* {{RQ:Shakespeare Hamlet|III|iii|270|2|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.}}
# {{lb|en|Ireland|informal}} {{cap|overcrowded}}.<ref>{{R:GDoS|id=yao742q|pos=adj}}</ref>
# {{senseid|en|coffee}} {{lb|en|of [[coffee]] or [[tea]]}} Without any [[cream]], [[milk]]{{,}} or [[creamer]].
#: {{ux|en|Jim drinks his coffee '''black''', but Ellen prefers it with creamer.}}
# {{lb|en|board games|chess}} Of or relating to the [[play]]ing [[piece]]s of a [[board game]] [[deem]]ed to [[belong]] to the "black" [[set]] (in [[chess]], the set used by the [[player]] who [[move]]s [[second]]) {{qualifier|often regardless of the pieces' actual colour}}.
#: {{ux|en|The '''black''' pieces in this [[chess set]] are made of [[dark]] [[blue]] [[glass]].}}
# {{senseid|en|typography}} {{lb|en|typography}} Said of a [[symbol]] or [[character]] that is [[solid]], [[filled]] with [[color]].
#: {{cot|en|white<id:typography>}}
#: {{ux|en|Compare two Unicode symbols: {{l|mul|☞}} (“WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX”); {{l|mul|☛}} (“'''BLACK''' RIGHT POINTING INDEX”).}}
# {{lb|en|politics}} Of or pertaining to [[anarchism]]; [[anarchist]].
# {{lb|en|German politics}} Related to the {{w|Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|Christian Democratic Union}} of [[Germany]].
#: {{ux|en|After the election, the parties united in a '''black'''-yellow alliance.}}
# {{cap|clandestine}}; relating to a [[political]], [[military]], or [[espionage]] [[operation]] or [[site]], the [[existence]] or [[detail]]s of which is [[withheld]] from the [[general public]].
#: {{ux|en|5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to '''black''' projects.}}
#: {{co|en|[[black operation|'''black''' operation]]s/[[black op|'''black''' op]]s; [[black room|'''black''' room]]; [[black site|'''black''' site]]}}
# {{cap|occult}}; relating to something (such as [[mystical]] or [[magical]] [[knowledge]]) which is [[unknown]] to or kept [[secret]] from the [[general public]].
#* {{quote-book|1=en|year=1936|author=Rollo Ahmed|title=The Black Art|publisher=Long|location=London|page=105|passage=Pope Joan, who once occupied the throne of the Vatican, was reputed to be the '''blackest''' sorcerer of them all.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2014|author=w:J.R.R. Tolkien|title=Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary| publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt| isbn=9780544442795| page=168| passage=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.}}
# {{lb|en|Ireland|now|pejorative}} [[Protestant]], often with the [[implication]] of being [[militantly]] pro-[[British]] or anti-[[Catholic]]. {{q|1=Compare [[blackmouth]] ("[[Presbyterian]]").<ref>Baraniuk, Carol (2015). [https://books.google.ie/books?id=brY6CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 ''James Orr, Poet and Irish Radical'']. Routledge. p. 128. {{ISBN|9781317317470}}; Barkley, John Monteith (1959) ''A Short History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland'' p.36</ref>}}
#: {{coi|en|the '''Black''' North|[[Ulster]]}}
#: {{co|en|the {{w|Royal Black Institution|Royal '''Black''' Institution}}}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1812|author=Edward Wakefield|url=https://books.google.ie/books?id=P54TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA737| title=An Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political| volume=2| page=737| passage=There is a district, comprehending Donegal, the interior of the county of Derry, and the western side of Tyrone, which is emphatically called by the people "the '''Black''' North," an expression not meant, as I conceive, to mark its greater exposure to the westerly winds, but rather its dreary aspect.}}
#* '''1841''' March 20, [https://books.google.ie/books?id=ghSKsL7nLp8C&pg=PA27 "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.
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1886|author=Thomas Power O'Connor|title=The Parnell Movement: With a Sketch of Irish Parties from 1843|page=520| passage=To the southern Nationalist the north was chiefly known as the home of the most rabid religious and political intolerance perhaps in the whole Christian world; it was designated by the comprehensive title of the ''''Black''' North.'}}
#* '''1914''' May 27, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015084608945;view=1up;seq=584 "Review of ''The North Afire'' by W. Douglas Newton"], ''The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality'', volume 86, page t<!-- yes, the pages use letters -->:
#*: 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.
#* {{quote-journal|en|year=1985|month=April|author=J. A. Weaver|titleurl=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2448008/?|title=John Henry Biggart 1905-1979 - A portrait in respect and affection|journal=Ulster Medical Journal|volume=54|number=1|page=1| passage=He [Sir John Henry Biggart] was personally amused at having once been called "a '''black''' bastard".}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|date=September 6 2007|author=Fintan O'Toole|titleurl=https://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n17/fintan-otoole/diary| title=Diary| journal=London Review of Books| volume=29| number=17 |page=35| passage=He had been playing Gaelic football for Lisnaskea Emmets, his local team in County Fermanagh, against a team from nearby Brookeborough, when someone from the opposing team called him a ‘'''black''' cunt’. ‘'''Black'''’, in this case, was a reference not to the colour of his skin but to his religion. It is short for ‘'''Black''' Protestant’, a long-standing term of sectarian abuse.}}
# Having one or more [[feature]]s ([[hair]], [[fur]], [[armour]], [[clothes]], [[bark]], etc.) that is [[dark]] (or black).
#: {{co|en|the '''black''' knight; [[black bile|'''black''' bile]]}}
## {{lb|en|taxonomy|especially}} Dark in [[comparison]] to [[another]] [[species]] with the same [[base]] [[name]].
##: {{co|en|[[black birch|'''black''' birch]]; [[black locust|'''black''' locust]]; [[black rhino|'''black''' rhino]]}}
# {{lb|en|Singapore|Singlish|of someone's face}} {{cap|sullen}} and [[solemn]]; [[bad-tempered]] and unhappy.
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Jean Tay|title=Boom|year=2009|isbn=9810755007|section=Act I, scene x|page=46|publisher=Epigram Books|passage=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'''.}}

====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''.<ref>Mark Williams, "Ethnicity and Authenticity", in ''Comparative Literary Dimensions: Essays in Honor of Melvin J. Friedman'', edited by Melvin J. Friedman, Jay L. Halio, Ben Siegel, University of Delaware Press (2000, {{ISBN|9780874137156}}), page 194: "'Black' means very different things in different places. In America the word black usually means descended from Africa; East Indians are not generally defined as black there. In Britain, however, Asians often designate themselves as black. In New Zealand, Maori radicals sometimes use the world because it points to their difference from the dominant white culture in terms conveniently binary. Even vaguer uses of the word can be seen, such as the expression &quot;Black Irish,&quot; which refers to Irish people supposedly descended from Spanish sailors, or &quot; Black Maoris,&quot; who are believed by other Maoris to be descended from black sailors who jumped ship in the northern parts of New Zealand in the early contact period."</ref><ref>Carolyn Whitzman, ''The Handbook of Community Safety Gender and Violence Prevention: Practical Planning Tools'', Routledge (2012, {{ISBN|9781136553714}}), page 46:"the term 'black' refers to many different groups, depending upon the country where it is used. In the US, black means African-Americans, usually descendants of slaves, although there are a growing number of recent black migrants from the Caribbean and Africa. In Canada, black means people of African origin as well, usually first- or second-generation migrants from the Caribbean, although there is a smaller, more established, community descended from refugees from slavery in th US. In the UK, black usually means people of South Asian descent, who may be new migrants or who may be second- or third-generation citizens. In Australia, black means the indigenous people or Aboriginal Australians, who are descendants of inhabitants who predated European settlement by over 40,000 years. In South Africa, black means the indigenous peoples as well {{...}}"</ref><ref>[//www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html US Census Bureau definitions of racial groups]; [//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mixed/onedrop.html PBS article on American use]</ref><ref>See [[Citations:black]].</ref>
* Some style guides recommend capitalizing {{m|en|Black}} in reference to the racial group,<ref>{{cite-web|url=https://apnews.com/71386b46dbff8190e71493a763e8f45a|work=The Associated Press|title=AP changes writing style to capitalize ″b″ in Black|date=2020-06-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite-web|title=Why We’re Capitalizing Black|work=New York Times|date=2020-07-05|author=Nancy Coleman|titleurl=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html}}</ref> while others advise using lowercase (''black'');<ref>[https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php Columbia Journalism Review, referring also to the Chicago Manual of Style]</ref> lowercase is more common.

====Derived terms====
{{sense|biology: having features darker than closely related organisms}}
{{der3|en|black ant|black bream|black carob|black curassow|black dammar|black duiker|black fungus|black imported fire ant|black pepper snake|black plum|black trumpet|black turtle bean|black-and-yellow grosbeak|black-backed grosbeak|black-bellied wren|black-billed flycatcher
|black abalone|Black Hills|Black Mesa|Black Mesa Wash|Little Black Spot Mesa|Little Black Spot Mountain|anti-black|benthic black|black as your hat|black bearded saki|black glaze|black tax|black-assed|black-faced cormorant|black-ganger
|[[black alder]] ({{taxfmt|Alnus glutinosa|species}})
|black and gold garden spider
|black and white warbler|Arizona black walnut|black marsh turtle|common black hawk|Cuban black hawk|great black hawk|mangrove black hawk
|Black Angus|anti-black|benthic black|black bearded saki|black forest|black fox|black fragility|black glaze|black kale|black lemur|black mage|black tax|black-faced cormorant|black-ganger
|black antshrike
|black-arched moth
|black ash
|black-backed antshrike
|black-backed jackal
|black bamboo
|black bass
|black bean
|black bean aphid
|[[black bear]] ({{taxfmt|Ursus|genus}} spp.)
|black beetle
|black-bellied plover
|black-bellied sandgrouse
|black-bibbed tit
|black-billed capercaillie
|black-billed magpie| bible-black|black caviar|black henbane|black seaperch|black turnstone|black-clad|black-headed greenfinch|black-humored|black-vented oriole|Java black rot
|[[black bread mold]] ({{taxlink|Rhizopus stolonifer|species}})
|black bryony
|blackbuck
|[[blackbutt]] ({{taxfmt|Eucalyptus|genus}} spp,)
|black caiman
|black canker
|black-capped chickadee
|black-capped tinamou
|black caraway
|black cardamom
|black carp
|black carpet beetle
|black chanterelle
|[[black cherry]] ({{taxfmt|Prunus serotina|species}})
|black chokeberry
|black cock
|black cockatoo
|[[black cohosh]] ({{taxfmt|Actaea racemosa|species}})
|black coral
|black-crested titmouse
|[[black cuckooshrike]], [[black cuckoo-shrike]]
|black cumin
|black currawong
|black-crested antshrike
|black-crowned night heron
|[[blackcurrant]], [[black currant]], [[black-currant]] ({{taxfmt|Ribes nigrum|species}})
|black durgon
|[[black elder]] ({{taxfmt|Sambucus nigra|species}})
|[[black-eyed bean]] [[black-eyed pea]] ({{taxfmt|Vigna unguiculata|species}})
|[[black-eyed Susan]] ({{taxfmt|Rudbeckia hirta|species}})
|black-faced ibis
|black finger crab
|blackfly
|black-footed cat
|black-footed rock wallaby
|black francolin
|black garden ant
|[[black goby]] ({{taxlink|Gobius niger|species}})
|black goose
|black gram
|blackgrass
|black grouse
|black guillemot
|[[black gum]] (''{{ll|mul|Nyssa sylvatica}}'')
|black hairstreak
|black-handed gibbon
|black haw
|black haw viburnum
|black-headed duck
|black-headed gull
|black-headed parrot
|black hellebore
|black-hooded antshrike
|black house spider
|black howler
|black ibis
|black kite
|black-legged kittiwake
|black locust
|black mamba
|black mangrove
|black maple
|black moss
|black moth
|black mudalia
|black mudfish
|black mulberry
|{{vern|black mustard}} ({{taxfmt|Brassica nigra|species}})
|black-necked grebe
|black-necked screamer
|black-necked swan
|[[black nightshade]] ({{taxfmt|Solanum nigrum|species}} etc.)
|black oak
|black oat
|black palmer
|black partridge
|[[black pepper]] ({{taxfmt|Piper nigrum|species}})
|black piedra
|{{ll|en|black pine}} ({{taxfmt|Pinus nigra|species}})
|[[blackpoll]] ({{taxlink|Dendroica striata|species}})
|black prince
|{{taxlink|Black queen cell virus|species}}
|[[black racer]] ({{taxfmt|Coluber constrictor|species}})
|black radish
|[[black raspberry]] ({{taxfmt|Rubus|genus}} spp.)
|[[black rat]] ({{taxfmt|Rattus rattus|species}})
|black redstart
|black rhinoceros
|black rice
|black rust
|black sage
|black salmon
|black salsify
|black scabbardfish
|black scoter
|[[black skimmer]] ({{taxfmt|Rynchops niger|species}})
|black slug
|blacksmelt
|black snake
|black snakeroot
|black speargrass
|black spruce
|blackstart
|[[black stork]] ({{taxfmt|Ciconia nigra|species}})
|black-striped wallaby
|black swallower
|[[black swallow-wort]], [[black swallowwort]]
|black swan
|black-tailed godwit
|black-tailed jackrabbit
|black-tailed trainbearer
|black-tailed flycatcher
|black-tailed hawfinch
|black teal
|black tern
|[[blackthorn]] ({{taxfmt|Prunus spinosa|species}})
|black-throat
|black-throated antshrike
|black-throated diver
|black-throated loon
|black tinamou
|black toad
|black tooth
|black truffle
|[[black walnut]] ({{taxfmt|Juglans nigra|species}})
|black whale
|black willow
|black-winged kite
|black-winged pratincole
|blackwit
|blackworm
|great black-backed gull
|[[lesser black-backed gull]] ({{taxfmt|Larus fuscus|species}})
|[[American black bear]]|[[American black duck]]|[[American black vulture]]|[[Asian black bear]]|[[Asian black rat]]
|[[black alder winterberry]]|[[black birch tree]]|[[black butcherbird]]|[[black cod]]|[[black crowned crane]]|[[black dolphin]]|[[black earwig]]|[[black ewe]]|[[black garlic]]|[[black ghost knifefish]]|[[black horehound]]|[[black horse]]|[[black limpet]]|[[black oat grass]]|[[black oriole]]|[[black panther]]|[[black poplar]]|[[black sea cucumber]]|[[black-backed water tyrant]]|[[black-browed albatross]]|[[black-browed barbet]]|[[black-browed mollymawk]]|[[black-capped petrel]]|[[black-chinned siskin]]|[[black-crested tit]]|[[black-faced bunting]]|[[black-headed bunting]]|[[black-headed pasture cockchafer]]|[[black-necked crane]]|[[black-throated accentor]]|[[black-throated thrush]]|[[black-winged stilt]]|[[blue-bellied black snake]]|[[Eurasian black vulture]]|[[Florida black wolf]]|[[greater black-backed gull]]|[[Himalayan black-lored tit]]|[[Indian black-lored tit]]|[[little black ant]]|[[little black cormorant]]|[[Louisiana black bear]]|[[red-bellied black snake]]|[[red-black tree]][[southern black tit]]|[[western black-eared wheatear]]|[[white-backed black tit]]|[[white-shouldered black tit]]|[[white-winged black tit]]|[[yellow-tailed black cockatoo]]|black drongo|black drum|black matipo|black sapote|black-veined white|little black serotine|blackcock|blackeye|blackthroat|black-capped babbler}}

{{sense|other senses}}
{{der3|en|black aristocracy|black box insurance|black British|black fellow|black day|black figure|black guts|black hole star|black land|black landing|black legend|black letter day|black match|black nobility|black notice|black squall|black woman|black-bottom pie|black-legged tick|black-letter day|black-outs|Russian black bread
|black pool|black Sabbath|black sanctus|black society|blackamoor|black-topped|black-water rafting|Houston black
|All Blacks|black butter|black-bottom
|antiblack
|black ace|Argentine black and white tegu|black crappie|black swallowtail|black vine weevil|black wallaby|black-footed ferret|black-hat hacking|black-tailed deer|black-throated magpie-jay|depressive suicidal black metal|look on the black side|red-tailed black cockatoo
|Blackacre
|black advance|black liberation| black and brown|black and white tegu|black clam|black crake|black open access|black pacu|black plastic crap|black pod|black quahog|black-breasted leaf turtle|black-headed|black-headed saltator|black-or-white|double black diamond|European black pine|eyelash black
|black Africa
|black amber
|black and blue
|Black and Tan
|[[black-and-white]], [[black and white]]
|Blackanese
|black antimony
|Black Army
|black art
|black as a dog's guts
|black as coal
|black as Newgate's knocker
|black as night
|black as tar
|black as the ace of spades
|black as thunder
|black aurora
|black babies
|blackback
|black bag
|blackball
|blackband
|black band disease
|Blackbeard
|black beer
|black belt
|black bile
|black bitch
|black bloc
|blackboard
|blackbody
|Black Book
|black bottom|Black Bottom
|black bottom pie
|black box
|black-box testing
|black box warning
|blackboy
|black brane
|black bread
|black broth
|black bun
|black cab
|black cake
|black cancer
|blackcap
|black carbon
|black card
|black cat
|Black Cat
|black cattle
|black chalk
|black chamber
|blackchin
|black clergy
|blackcoat
|black-coated
|black coffee
|black comedy
|black copper
|Black Country
|black cow
|Black Creek
|blackdamp
|blackdar
|Black Death
|black diamond
|Black Dog
|[[black dog]], [[black dog syndrome]]
|black draught
|black drink
|black drop
|black drop effect
|Black Duck
|Black Dutch
|black dwarf
|black earth
|black economy
|black eye
|black-eyed
|blackface
|blackfaced
|black fax
|[[blackfellow]], [[blackfella]]
|black fever
|blackfish
|black flag
|black flux
|blackfly
|blackfold
|Black Forest
|Black Forest cake
|Black Forest gateau
|black friar
|Black Friday
|black frost
|black game
|blackgin
|black gold
|blackguard
|black-haired
|Black Hand
|black hat
|blackhead
|blackheart
|black-hearted
|black henna
|black hog
|black hole
|black-house
|[[black humor]], [[black humour]]
|black ice
|blackify
|black information
|black in the face
|black Irish
|black iron
|blackish
|Black Isle
|blackism
|black ivory
|blackjack
|black jail
|black jaundice
|black knight
|black latten
|Black Law
|black lead
|blackleg
|Black Legend
|black letter
|[[black light]], [[blacklight]]
|blackline
|blacklip
|blacklist
|blackity-black
|Black Lady
|black liquor
|blackly
|black lung
|blackmail
|black magic
|black man
|black manganese
|Black Maria
|black mark
|black market
|Black Mass
|black mead
|black measles
|black metal
|Black Monday
|black money
|Black Monk
|black moon
|Black Mountains
|blackmouth
|black-mouthed
|black mud
|black noise
|black note
|black olive
|black-on-black
|[[black operation]], [[black op]]
|black over Bill's mother's
|black people's time
|blackophilia
|Blackophobe
|Blackophobia
|Blackophobic
|black pill
|black oven
|Black Panther
|Black Peter
|black phosphorus
|Black Plague
|black plate
|Black Pope
|black powder
|black power
|black propaganda
|black pudding
|black quarter
|black radio
|black rain
|black rent
|black rider
|Black Rock
|Black Rod
|black room
|blackroot
|black rot
|Black Russia
|Black Ruthenia
|black salts
|black salve
|black sanctus
|Black Sea
|blackseed
|black shale
|black sheep
|blackshirt
|black-sick
|[[black Sigatoka]], [[black sigatoka]]
|black silver
|blackskin
|blacksmith
|black smoker
|blacksnake
|black soup
|blackspeak
|blacksplain
|black spot
|black start
|blackstrap
|blackstream
|black stuff
|black stump
|black supremacy
|black swan
|blacktag
|blacktail
|black tar
|black tea
|blackthorn
|black thumb
|Black Thursday
|black tie
|black tin
|blacktip
|blacktivist
|blacktop
|black top-hat transform
|Blacktown
|blacktress
|black triangle
|Black Tuesday
|black up <!--verb-->
|black urine disease
|black velvet
|Black Virgin
|black vomit
|black vulture
|blackware
|blackwash
|blackwater
|black wedding
|black widow
|black witch
|blackwood
|black woodpecker
|blackwork
|[[blacky]], [[blackie]], [[blackey]]
|black zone
|[[blak]], [[Blak]]
|Blasian
|blaxploitation
|blax
|blue-black
|coal black
|code black
|everblack
|have the black ox tread on one's foot
|in someone's black books
|interblack
|[[jet black]], [[jet-black]]
|Large Black
|little black book
|little black dress
|monoblack
|nonblack
|normally black
|not as black as one is painted
|once you go black, you never go back
|Penny Black
|pitch-black
|postblack
|pot calling the kettle black
|pro-black
|quasiblack
|slate black
|unblack
|[[beyond the black stump]]|[[black and burst]]|[[black and white village]]|[[black bag job]]|[[black bag operation]]|[[black body]]|[[black bomber]]|[[black boy]]|[[black budget]]|[[black car]]|[[black child]]|[[black Christmas]]|[[black clock]]|[[black coal]]|[[black cotton soil]]|[[black flight]]|[[black gang]]|[[black gangster]]|[[black gin]]|[[black hairy tongue syndrome]]|[[black in]]|[[black jack]]|[[black lady]]|[[black letter law]]|black lives matter|[[black marketeer]]|[[black marketeering]]|[[black MIDI]]|[[black mirror]]|[[black mist]]|[[black sand]]|[[black sesame soup]]|[[black shoe]]|[[black where it counts]]|[[black-and-tan]]|[[black-bag]]|[[black-box function]]|[[black-collar]]|[[black-hat]]|[[black-letter]]|[[black-throated]]|[[black-tie]]|[[body in black]]|[[bone black]]|[[cat calling the kettle black]]|[[chocolate black]]|[[driving while black]]|[[good black don't crack]]|[[in the black]]|[[non-black]]|[[picture black]]|[[pitch black]]|[[respotted black]]|[[sleep black]]|[[this side of the black stump]]|black beauty|black cap|black helicopter|black look|blaccent|Black Elk|blackademic|blackassed|Blackface|blackfeller|blackfin|blackfolk|Blackford|blackfulla|blackgame|Blackheath|blackhood|blackland|blacklash|blacklead|blacklet|blacklettered|blackneck|blackophobic|blackride|blackrider|blacksalter|blackshop|blacksome|blackspot|blackster|blackstuff|blacktracker|Blackwood|Blatino|Blaxican|Blaxit|blerd|Blewish|blipster|buppie|Cablinasian|coalblack|transblack|wack|Black Crater Lake}}

====Related terms====
{{rel3|en
|blackamoor
|blackavised
|[[blackberry]] ({{taxfmt|Ribes nigrum|species}})
|blackbird
|blacken
|blackness
|forblack
}}

====Descendants====
* {{desc|bi|blak}}
* {{desc|srn|blaka}}
** {{desc|djk|baaka}}
** {{desc|hns|blaaka|bor=1}}
* {{desc|tpi|blak}}
* {{desc|tcs|blaik}}
* {{desc|nl|black|bor=1}}
* {{desc|fr|black|bor=1}}
* {{desc|el|μπλάκης|bor=1}}

====Translations====
{{see translation subpage|Adjective}}

===Noun===
{{en-noun|~}}

# {{lb|en|countable|and|uncountable}} The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.
#: {{colour panel|000}}
#: {{syn|en|blackness}}
#: {{ant|en|whiteness}}
#* {{RQ:Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost|IV|iii|passage='''Black''' is the badge of hell, / The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night.}}
# {{lb|en|countable|and|uncountable}} A black [[dye]] or [[pigment]].
#: {{ant|en|white}}
# {{lb|en|countable}} A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
# {{lb|en|in the plural}} Black [[cloth]] hung up at [[funeral]]s.
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1625|author=Francis Bacon|chapter=Of Death|title=Essays
|passage=Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and '''blacks''', and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.}}
# {{senseid|en|ethnic}} {{lb|en|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.
#* {{RQ:Cooper Miles Wallingford|chapter=XXIV|passage="How! They surely cannot pretend that the '''black''' is an Englishman?" "There are all kinds of Englishmen, black and white, when seamen grow scarce. {{...}}"}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1863|author=w:Charles Reade|title={{w|Hard Cash (novel)|Hard Cash}}|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3067/3067-h/3067-h.htm|passage=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.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2004|author=Anthony Joseph Paul Cortese|title=Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising|page=108|passage=Prize-winning books continue a trend toward increased representation of '''blacks''', accounting for most of the books with exclusively black characters.}}
# {{lb|en|uncountable|informal}} [[blackness|Blackness]], the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.
#: {{co|en|[[black don't crack|'''black''' don't crack]]}}
# {{lb|en|countable|billiards|snooker|pool}} The black ball.
# {{lb|en|countable|baseball}} The edge of [[home plate]].
# {{lb|en|countable|British}} A type of [[firecracker]] that is really more dark [[brown]] in colour.
# {{lb|en|countable|informal}} {{short for|en|blackcurrant}}
#: {{co|en|[[Pernod and black|Pernod and '''black''']]; [[snakebite and black|snakebite and '''black''']]; [[cider]] and '''black'''}}
## {{lb|en|chiefly|UK}} Blackcurrant as [[syrup]] or [[crème de cassis]] used for [[cocktail]]s.
# {{lb|en|countable|chess}} The person playing with the black set of pieces.
#: {{ux|en|At this point '''black''' makes a disastrous move.}}
# {{lb|en|countable}} Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.
#* {{RQ:Digby Two Treatises|passage=the '''black''' or sight of the eye}}
# {{lb|en|obsolete|countable}} A stain; a spot.
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1619|author=w:William Rowley|title=All's Lost by Lust
|passage=defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly '''blacks''' of lust}}
# A dark [[smut]] [[fungus]], harmful to [[wheat]].
# {{lb|en|US|slang}} [[marijuana|Marijuana]].
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2008|author={{w|Jesmyn Ward}}|title={{w|Where the Line Bleeds}}|publisher=Bloomsbury (2018)|page=48|passage=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.}}

====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.<ref>{{R:Merriam-Webster Online}} "Use of the noun Black in the singular to refer to a person is considered offensive. The plural form Blacks is still commonly used by Black people and others to refer to Black people as a group or community, but the plural form too is increasingly considered offensive, and most style guides advise writers to use Black people rather than Blacks when practical."</ref><ref>{{R:Oxford Learner's Dictionaries}}: "Using the noun black to refer to people with dark skin can be offensive, so it is better to use the adjective: ''black people • a black man/woman'' . It is especially offensive to use the noun with the definite article (‘the blacks’)"</ref><ref>{{R:Dictionary.com}} "As a noun, however, it does often offend. The use of the plural noun without an article is somewhat more accepted (home ownership among ''Blacks'' ); however, the plural noun with an article is more likely to offend (political issues affecting ''the Blacks'' ), and the singular noun is especially likely to offend (The small business proprietor is ''a Black'' ). Use the adjective instead: ''Black homeowners, Black voters, a Black business proprietor''." </ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210816190545/https://www.apstylebook.com/race-related-coverage AP Stylebook]: "Do not use [black] as a singular noun."</ref> 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====
{{der3|en|animal black|channel black|impingement black
|acetylene black
|African black
|Berlin black
|Black Act
|black and tan
|black and white
|black don't crack
|blackless
|Blackophobia
|blue-black
|boneblack
|Brunswick black
|carbon black
|coal black
|cut to black
|eye black
|fade to black
|Frankfort black
|ivory black
|[[jet black]], [[jet-black]]
|lampblack
|long black
|[[man in black]], [[Man in Black]]
|Men in Black
|mineral black
|mulga black
|palladium black
|Pernod and black
|platinum black
|raisin black
|short black
|slate black
|smoke black
|smoky black
|Spanish black
|the new black
|toothblack
|two seconds to black
}}

====Descendants====
* {{desc|bor=1|ja|ブラック|tr=burakku}}
* {{desc|bor=1|vo|bläg}}

====Translations====
{{see translation subpage|Noun}}

===Verb===
{{en-verb}}

# {{lb|en|transitive}} To make [[#Adjective|black]]; to [[blacken]].
#: {{syn|en|blacken|darken|swarten}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1859|author=Oliver Optic|title=Poor and Proud; or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn, a Story for Young Folks|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324200615/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fpublicsearch%2Fmodengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=506735625&tag=Optic%2C+Oliver%3A+Poor+and+proud%3B+or%2C+The+fortunes+of+Katy+Redburn%2C+a+story+for+young+folks%2C+1859&query=+black+your&id=OptPoor
|passage="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.<br>"Say that again, and I'll '''black''' your eye for you."}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1911|author=Edna Ferber|title=Buttered Side Down|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324200610/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fpublicsearch%2Fmodengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=302756157&tag=Ferber%2C+Edna%3A+Buttered+Side+Down%2C+1911&query=+black+your&id=FerButt
|passage=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.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1922|author=John Galsworthy|title=A Family Man: In Three Acts|url=http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC00645065&id=vw6G-rbudVUC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=%22black+his+eye%22&as_brr=1
|passage=I saw red, and instead of a cab I fetched that policeman. Of course father did '''black''' his eye.}}
# {{lb|en|transitive}} To apply [[blacking]] to (something).
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1853|author=Harriet Beecher Stowe|title=The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009081751/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fpublicsearch%2Fmodengpub.o2w
|passage={{...}} he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must '''black''' his own ''brogans'' (for he will not be able to buy boots).}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1861|author=George William Curtis|title=Trumps: A Novel|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324200605/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fpublicsearch%2Fmodengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=160888866&tag=EAF538&query=+black+your&id=eaf538
|passage=But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I '''black''' your boots for you?"}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1911|author=Max Beerbohm|title=Zuleika Dobson|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324195439/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fpublicsearch%2Fmodengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=91865750&tag=Beerbohm%2C+Max%2C+Sir%2C+1872-1956%3A+Zuleika+Dobson%2C+1911&query=+black+your&id=BeeZule
|passage=Loving you, I could conceive no life sweeter than hers — to be always near you; to '''black''' your boots, carry up your coals, scrub your doorstep; always to be working for you, hard and humbly and without thanks.}}
# {{lb|en|British|transitive}} To [[boycott]], usually as part of an industrial dispute.
#: {{syn|en|blackball|blacklist|Thesaurus:boycott}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=2003|author=Alun Howkins|title=The Death of Rural England|page=175
|passage=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.}}

====Derived terms====
{{der3|en
|blacker
|black out <!--verb-->
|blackout <!--noun-->
|bootblack
|shoeblack
}}

====Translations====
{{trans-see|to blacken|blacken}}

===See also===
{{top3}}
* [[café noir]]
* [[calamander]]
* [[chernozem]]
* [[melancholy]]
* [[melena]]
* [[nigrescence]]
* [[nigrosine]]
* [[rouge et noir]]
* [[skean-dhu]]
{{bottom}}

* {{list:blacks/en}}

{{table:colors/en}}

===References===
* {{R:OneLook}}
* {{R:Keywords 21st}}
* {{R:Century 1911}}
{{reflist}}

===Further reading===
* {{pedia}}

{{C|en|Blacks|Fungal diseases|Horse colors}}

==French==

===Etymology===
{{bor+|fr|en|black}}.

===Pronunciation===
* {{fr-IPA}}
* {{audio|fr|LL-Q150 (fra)-Exilexi-black.wav}}
* {{hyph|fr|black}}

===Adjective===
{{fr-adj|mf}}

# {{lb|fr|relational}} of {{l|en|black}} people or culture
#: {{syn|fr|noir}}

===Noun===
{{fr-noun|mfbysense}}

# {{l|en|black}} person
#: {{syn|fr|noir}}
#* {{quote-book
|fr
|year=2015
|author=Ilham Maad
|title=Noir, pas black
|url=https://www.arteradio.com/sites/default/files/scripts/scriptnoirpasblack.pdf
|passage=C’est qu’en France, les blancs n’existent pas et par contre la façon de parler des nonblancs existe et évolue avec le temps. Parce qu’effectivement, d’abord on était sur des termes purement et simplement racistes avec « bamboula, negro, nègre, bicot, bougnoule » et puis après ça a évolué et on est arrivé à « '''black''', beur »… Donc je sais pas quand est-ce que ça a commencé exactement, moi je marque ça aux années 80, le hip hop, voilà, la black music…
|translation=In France, there are no Whites, but names for non-Whites are constantly evolving. First we had terms that were purely and simply racist, like jigaboo, negro, nigger, coon, sambo... That evolved until we got to '''Black''', Brownie... I'm not sure when that came in, but I guess it was the 1980s, with hip-hop and "Black music."}}

==Middle English==

===Pronunciation===
* {{hyph|enm|black}}

===Adjective===
{{head|enm|adjective}}

# {{alt form|enm|blak}}

==Swedish==

===Pronunciation===
* {{hyph|sv|black}}

===Noun===
{{sv-noun|c}}

# a [[clog]] (weight such as a block of wood, attached to a human or animal to hinder motion)
# {{lb|sv|figuratively|in "en black om foten" (a clog around the foot)}} a [[ball and chain]], a [[millstone|millstone round one's neck]]

====Declension====
{{sv-infl-noun-c-ar}}

====Further reading====
* {{pedia|lang=sv|Black (hästfärg)|Black (horse color)}}

===Adjective===
{{sv-adj|-}}

# [[dun]] (of a horse)
# [[broke]] (without money)
#: {{syn|sv|pank}}
#: {{ux|sv|Jag är helt '''black'''|I'm completely '''broke'''}}

====Declension====
{{sv-adj-abs}}

===References===
* {{R:svenska.se|so}}
* {{R:svenska.se|saol}}
* {{R:svenska.se|saob}}