黑

hēi
HSK 2
#519 most
frequent character
black, dark
adjective

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

黑 shows a person with a face tattooed as punishment, first meaning 'face tattoo punishment'. The meaning then grew to 'the color black', 'dark', 'wicked', and 'secret'.

Drawn as: person with tattooed face

黑 as a component in other characters

meaning12 characters
墨黛黯黝黔黜黠黢黧黥黟黪
sound4 characters
默墨嘿黩

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Example Sentences

这只猫是黑色的。
zhè zhī māo shì hēisè de 。
This cat is black.
外面很黑，我需要开灯。
wàimiàn hěn hēi ， wǒ xūyào kāi dēng 。
It's very dark outside, I need to turn on the light.
她穿了一件黑色的裙子。
tā chuān le yījiàn hēisè de qúnzǐ 。
She is wearing a black dress.

Words with similar meanings

暗àn
dark
暗 (àn) emphasizes the lack of light more than just the color black.

Homophones

HSK 6
嘿hēi
hey

Words Starting With 黑

黑板hēi bǎn
"blackboard

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Public Lists with 黑

HSK 2
All words for the HSK 2 test
Common Adjectives
Descriptive words for size, quality, temperature, mood, and more.
Colors & Shapes
Vocabulary for basic colors, color shades, and geometric shapes.