English
black
Black comes from Old English blæc ‘black, dark; ink’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *blakaz ‘burnt’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blakaz‘burnt’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blak‘burnt’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150blæc‘black, dark; ink’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blak
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596black
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blakaz‘burnt’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blak‘burnt’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150blæc‘black, dark; ink’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blak
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596black
Earliest quotation: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “Black is the badge of hell, / The hue…”
The story
Adjective sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).
Linked words
through Old English blæc ‘black, dark", also "ink’
through Middle English blak
Today it means
adj Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *blakaz / black