hēi
adjective HSK 2 #697

Meanings

  1. 1 black
  2. 2 dark

Examples

Tiān hēi le, wǒmen huíjiā ba.
It's getting dark, let's go home.
Tā chuān le yí jiàn hēisè de yīfu.
He wore black clothes.
Tā de tóufa shì hēisè de.
Her hair is black.

Tips

usage
means 'it's getting dark' — a very common expression. can describe both color (black) and lighting (dark).

Components

ideograph
hēi
black; dark
Single fused unit: the upper portion no longer maps to any independent CJK form, capping the four bottom dots that suggest fire below. Kangxi radical #203 heading , , , . Historically a chimney or smoke-vent stained with soot above licking flames, fused by small-seal stage.

Radical

Black Kangxi #203

An ideogram of a chimney over flames — the soot-blackening of smoke. Indexes characters about darkness, ink, and stains: (silent / dark), (dark eyebrow paint), (dark green-black), (gloomy), (Guizhou — once a dark frontier), (kohl), (dot, simplified ).

Used in

View all 7 →
Showing 6 of 7 · default form 黑
dài
dark pigment used for painting eyebrows · blackish green
silent · to write from memory
yǒu
dark; deep black · tanned dark (of skin); swarthy
dark; sallow; yellow-black (especially of complexion)
chù
to dismiss from office · to expel
qián
Guizhou Province (abbreviation) · black; to blacken

Stroke Order

hēi