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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

黑

hēi
black
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 黑
  • 12 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
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Origin

Pictogram (象形) – oracle bone form uncertain, perhaps the element in 𦰩 / 堇 without 口. Bronze inscriptions added dots to a prominent head, usually read as facial tattoos 墨刑 (mòxíng).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-maŋ ~ s-mak. Cognate with 墨 (OC *mlɯːɡ, “ink”).

The sense of “hack” is a phono-semantic matching of English hack.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • partChinese丷 “Component variant of 八.”
  • partChinese土 “earth; soil”
  • partChinese火 “fire; flame (Classifier: 把 m; 團／团 m)”
  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*s-maŋ ~ s-mak “black; dark; ink”
    • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*nək “black”

Words built on it: 點, 黑色, 黑板, 黑暗, 黨

Meanings

character
  1. black
  2. dark; darkness
  3. evening; night
  4. illegal; clandestine; secret; shady
  5. to illegally reside (in a country)
  6. sinister; evil

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

黑：火所熏之色也。从炎，上出𡆧。𡆧，古窻字。凡黑之屬皆从黑。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 完全吸收光線，像煤或墨般深暗的顏色。與「白」相對。 例：黝黑、黑漆漆、黑白分明
  2. 昏暗。 例：黑暗
  3. 專門從事非法的。與「白」相對。 例：黑道、黑市、黑槍
  4. 隱密、非法的。 例：黑函、黑市、黑槍
  5. 狠毒。 例：黑心肝、黑心腸

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 黑 was written 字形演變

  1. 黑 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 黑 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 黑 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 黑 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 黑 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 黑 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 黑