# black

> English word · Adjective · IPA /blæk/ · frequency rank #326

## Definitions
1. Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
2. Without light.
3. 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.)
4. 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.)
5. Designated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).
6. Of the spades or clubs suits.
7. Bad; evil; ill-omened.
8. Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen.
9. Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced.
10. Foul; dirty, soiled.
11. Overcrowded.
12. Without any cream, milk, or creamer.
13. 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).
14. Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color.
15. Of or pertaining to anarchism; anarchist.
16. Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.
17. Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.
18. Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.
19. Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic. (Compare blackmouth ("Presbyterian").)
20. Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or black).
21. Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or black).
22. Sullen and solemn; bad-tempered and unhappy.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *blakaz
Proto-West Germanic *blak
Old English blæc
Middle English blak
English 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”).

## Easily confused with
- **buck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-buck)
- **blah** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blah)
- **bloc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-bloc)
- **bock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-bock)
- **block** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-block)
- **blame** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blame)
- **blast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blast)
- **brick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-brick)
- **blade** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blade)
- **blake** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blake)
- **blank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blank)
- **Blair** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blair)
- **blink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blink)
- **brace** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-brace)
- **Brock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-brock)
- **blaze** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blaze)
- **bland** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-bland)
- **bleak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-bleak)
- **blanc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-blanc)
- **Buick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/black-vs-buick)

## Common misspellings (8)
`balck`, `bblack`, `blacck`, `blackk`, `blakc`, `blcak`, `bllack`, `lback`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/black