Black

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /blæk/

Definitions

1. The darkest color, resulting from the absence of or complete absorption of visible light
2. The color characterized by a total absence of light or the total absorption of visible wavelengths is often associated with mystery and elegance
3. This hue represents the extreme end of the spectrum, devoid of light, and is commonly linked to authority and sophistication

Etymology: Old English "blæc" meant "black" but also "ink," and its ancestors may have meant "burnt." The idea of darkness came from scorched things, so the colour was once tied to fire rather than to the absence of light. Its likely Indo-European root, "bʰleg-," meant "to burn, shine," and related words in Latin, Greek and Sanskrit still point to flame and radiance. Cousins in Dutch and German keep the sense of burning alive: Dutch "blaken" means "to burn." The word also has an unexpected link to Cantonese. One adjective sense of English "black" is a semantic loan from the Cantonese phrase "hak1 min6," literally "black face," which means to pull a long face or scowl. English speakers adopted that expression's sense of a sullen expression, so a word for a colour picked up a meaning about a mood borrowed from another language.

Synonyms: dark, ebony, jet, sable, charcoal

Antonyms: white, light, bright, colorful, pale