blackness
/ˈblæknəs/noun
blackness is spelled B-L-A-C-K-N-E-S-S: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, blackness means “The state or quality of being black in colour” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of blackness is blacknesses.
How many letters and syllables are in blackness?
| Letters | 9: B-L-A-C-K-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is blackness?
Blackness appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce blackness?
- US /ˈblæknəs/
Blackness has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-blackness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with blackness?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as blackness from its last stressed vowel (/æknəs/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of blackness
- blacknesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does blackness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state or quality of being black in colour.
The blackness of outer space comes from the lack of anything to reflect light rather than the absence of light.
- 2
Any space that such colour pervades.
Out of the blackness came some flickers of light.
- 3
Darkness, gloominess; depression.
- 4
The quality of being evil or dismal.
- 5
The state of being of African descent.
- 6
The experiences and culture of Black people.
noun
- 1
Alternative letter-case form of blackness (“state of being of African descent; culture of African-Americans”).
Describes a person or thing that is authentic, the height of something, according to the authentic, natural, ‘keepin-it-real’ standards of Blackness that are believed to exist in ghetto communities. Also ghetto fab.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Blackness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense state or quality of being black:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does blackness come from?
Inherited from Middle English blaknesse, equivalent to black + -ness. Sense 5 most likely both originated from the masque The Masque of Blackness by Ben Jonson and later changed to its current positive sense.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).