黑 (hēi): black

Meanings

1 black
2 dark

Characters

黑

hēi

black; dark

Examples

HSK 1

天黑了，我们回家吧。

Tiān hēi le, wǒmen huíjiā ba.

It's getting dark, let's go home.

HSK 2

他穿了一件黑色的衣服。

Tā chuān le yí jiàn hēisè de yīfu.

He wore black clothes.

HSK 2

她的头发是黑色的。

Tā de tóufa shì hēisè de.

Her hair is black.

Tips

usage

天黑了 means 'it's getting dark' - a very common expression. 黑 can describe both color (black) and lighting (dark).

Components

ideograph

黑 hēi

black; dark

Single fused unit: the upper portion no longer maps to any independent CJK form, capping the four bottom 灬 dots that suggest fire below. Kangxi radical #203 heading 默, 黛, 黯, 黔. 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 囱 over flames 灬 - the soot-blackening of smoke. Indexes characters about darkness, ink, and stains: 默 (silent / dark), 黛 (dark eyebrow paint), 黝 (dark green-black), 黯 (gloomy), 黔 (Guizhou - once a dark frontier), 黛 (kohl), 點 (dot, simplified 点).