Taxonomy of meanings for 黑:　　

Additional information about 黑

說文解字:

Criteria
• CITIES
  

  See 曲英結，先秦都城復原研究，黑龍江人民, 1991

• DARK
  

  1. The most current general word for physical shadowiness and obscurity is probably yōu 幽 (ant. míng 明 "bright"), but this word often has lyrical overtones of secluded peace.

  2. Míng 冥 (ant. guāng 光 "light"), hūn 昏 (ant. zhāo 昭 "bright") and the rarer mèi 昧 (ant. xiǎn 顯 "clear and manifest") refer freely to purely optical darkness and abstract obscurity.

  3. Xuán 玄 "very dark reddish-black" (ant. bái 白 "plain white") currently refers to mysterious obscurity of the abstract kind. See MYSTERIOUS

  4. Huì 晦 (ant. zhāng 彰 "plain and manifest") refers to obscurity, expecially of texts or of thoughts.

  5. Měng 蒙 (ant. yào 耀 "bright and clearly visible") refers to psychological dimness, obfuscation of mind.

  6. Yǐn 隱 focuses on the inaccessibility to discursive reasoning of what is mysterious.

  7. Àn 暗 / 闇 (ant. míng 明 "bright") can refer to darkness but most of the time this word actually refers abstractly to the benightedness of a ruler.

  8. Yīn 陰 "shadowy, shaded" (ant.* liàng 亮 "bright") describes the lack of light as contrasted with surrounding light.

  9. Ài 曖 is pervasive darkness as a general state, where mèi 昧 is darker than ài 曖.

  10. Hēi 黑 (ant.* hào 皓 "shiny and bright") is darkness imposed by the intrinsic darkness of pigment on an object. See BLACK.

  11. Yǎo 杳 is used in poetry as a general word referring to darkness.

  12. Wū 烏 (ant. hào 皓 "shining white") is quite rare and refers to a high degree of darkness that is without lustre not quite pitch dark.

• BLACK
  

  [[COMMON/RARE]]

  [DRAMATIC/UNDRAMATIC]

  [ELEVATED/FAMILIAR]

  [+FIG/LITERAL]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [IDIOMATIC/NON-IDIOMATIC]

  [POETIC/PROSAIC]

  1.The standard word is hēi 黑 (ant. bái 白 "white") which refers to anything very dark.

  [GENERAL], [LITERAL], [PROSAIC]; [[COMMON]]

  2. Xuán 玄 (ant. sù 素 "pristine unadorned white") refers to a redish mystifying black. SW: 黑而有赤色者

  [ELEVATED], [+FIG], [POETIC!]

  3. Àn 黯 (ant. hào 昊 "shining bright (of sky)") is rare and poetic, and the word refers to the threatening darkness of clouds in a thunderstorm.

  [DRAMATIC], [ELEVATED], [LITERAL], [POETIC]; [[RARE]]

  4. Zī 淄／緇 (ant. sù 素 "plain white") refers to the glossy greyish black appearance of dark silk, like the colour of dark earth, and this word seems limited to the description of clothes.

  [ELEVATED], [LITERAL], [SPECIFIC]

  5. Dài 黛 (ant. hào 皓 "shining whie") refers specifically to the dust-glossy black of make-up.

  [ELEVATED], [LITERAL], [POETIC], [SPECIFIC]; [[RARE]]

  6. Lí 黎 / 黧 (ant. sù 素 "pristine white and un-suntanned") refers to the dark sunburnt complexion of those who work in the open for long periods.

  [IDIOMATIC], [LITERAL], [PROSAIC], [SPECIFIC]

  7. Qián 黔 refers to the dark sunburnt complexion of those who work in the open for long periods, especially in qián mín 黔民 "the common people".

  [IDIOMATIC], [LITERAL], [PROSAIC], [SPECIFIC]

  8. Méi 黴 refers to the facial complexion darkened either by exposure to the sun or by sorrow.

  [ELEVATED], [+FIG], [IDIOMATIC], [POETIC!]; [[RARE]]

  9. Zào 皂 (sù 素 "plain undyed white") is also very rare and refers to the appearance of coarse dyed black non-silken textiles, the original reference of the word being to the plant used to produce the black effect.

  [LITERAL], [PROSAIC]

  10. Mò 墨 is basically ink, and by extension the word can come to refer to a dark black colour.

• WHITE
  

  1. The dominant word for whiteness is bái 白 (ant. hēi 黑 "black").

  2. Sù 素 (ant. zī 緇 "black") refers to a pristine natural absence of colouring close to what we call off white.

  3. Hào 皓 (ant. xuán 玄 and zào 皂 "dark and black") refers to gleaming whiteness.

  4. Ái 皚 refers specifically to the white appearance of snow, xī 皙 refers to the whiteness or paleness of skin, cuǒ 瑳 to the white tinge of jade, pó 皤 refers to whiteness of hair.

  5. Hào 皜 refers to a pure but unshiny white, as in porcelain.

Word relations
• Ant: (BLACK)白/WHITE The dominant word for whiteness is bái 白 (ant. hēi 黑 "black"). 3 Attributions