coal black

adj

"coal-black" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“coal black” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of an intensely black colour, like that of coal.

Corpus desk

Index EN-coal-black · coal black · English

coal black · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for coal black
PropertyValue
Headwordcoal black
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “coal black” in English

coal blackranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

coal black is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Of an intensely black colour, like that of coal.".

No misspelling variants are generated for coal black in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English colblak, colblake, cole-blak, cole-blake, coleblacke, colle blake, from the phrase blak as cole (“black as coal”). The correct English form is coal black, spelled C-O-A-L- -B-L-A-C-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of an intensely black colour, like that of coal.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how coal black appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Thor glared at him with hard coal-black eyes […]
  2. Hung in the stocking / For my empty coal-black soul

Etymology

From Middle English colblak, colblake, cole-blak, cole-blake, coleblacke, colle blake, from the phrase blak as cole (“black as coal”).

Antonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "coal black"?
"coal black" is spelled C-O-A-L- -B-L-A-C-K.
What does "coal black" mean?
As an adjective, "coal black" means: Of an intensely black colour, like that of coal.
What is the origin of the word "coal black"?
From Middle English colblak, colblake, cole-blak, cole-blake, coleblacke, colle blake, from the phrase blak as cole (“black as coal”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list