darkness

English

Alternative forms

• darckness (obsolete)
• darkneß (obsolete)

Etymology

From dark +‎ -ness

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈdɑːk.nəs/, SAMPA: /"dA:k.n@s/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

darkness (countable and uncountable; plural darknesses)

1. (uncountable) The state of being dark; lack of light.
   • The darkness of the room made it difficult to see.
2. (uncountable) Gloom.
3. (countable) The product of being dark.
4. (uncountable) The state or quality of reflecting little light, of tending to a blackish or brownish color.
   • The darkness of her skin betrayed her Mediterranean heritage.
5. (uncountable) Evilness, lack of understanding or compassion, reference to death or suffering.

Antonyms

• lightness

Translations

state of being dark

Arabic: ظلام (ar) (Zalaam) m. Armenian: խավար (hy) (xavar), մթություն (hy) (mt'ut'yun) Bosnian: tama (bs) f. Bulgarian: мрак (bg) m., тъмнина (bg) f. Catalan: foscor (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 黑暗 (zh) (hēi'àn) Croatian: táma (hr) f. Czech: tma (cs) f., temnota (cs) f. Danish: mørke (1,2) Dutch: duisternis (nl) f., donkerheid (nl) f. Egyptian: kkw(y) Esperanto: mallumo (eo) Ewe: viviti Finnish: pimeys (1), synkkyys (2) French: obscurité (fr) f., ténèbres (fr) f. pl., (dated) sombreur (fr), noirceur (fr) f. Galician: escuridade (gl) f., tebras (gl) f. pl. German: Dunkelheit (de) f., Finsternis (de) f. Greek: σκοτάδι (el) (skotádi) n., έρεβος (el) (érevos) n., ζόφος (el) (zófos) m. Hebrew: חשיכה (he) (khashekha) f. Hindi: अंधेरा (hi) (andherā) m., अन्धेरा (hi) (andherā) m. Hungarian: sötétség (hu) Hunsrik: tunkelheet Icelandic: myrkur (is) n. Ido: tenebro (io) Italian: oscurità (it) f. Japanese: 闇 (ja) (やみ, yami), 暗黒 (ja) (あんこく, ankoku) Korean: 암흑 (ko) (amheuk) (暗黑 (ko))

Kurdish: Sorani: تاریکی (ku) (tAreekee) Latin: tenebrae (la) f. pl., caligo (la) f. Latvian: tumsa f. Lithuanian: tamsa (lt) f. Luxembourgish: Däischtert (lb) f., Donkelheet (lb) f. Marathi: अंधार (andhār) Navajo: chahałheeł Norwegian: mørke (no) n. Norwegian Bokmål: dunkelhet c. Polish: ciemność (pl) f., mrok (pl) m. Portuguese: escuridão (pt) f., trevas (pt) f. pl. Russian: темнота (ru) (temnotá) f., тьма (ru) (t'ma) f., мрак (ru) (mrak) m. Scottish Gaelic: dubhar m., dorchadas m., dubh (gd) m. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: тама (sh) f. Roman: tama (sh) f., tamnoća, mračnina, mračnost Slovene: tema (sl) f. Spanish: oscuridad (es) f. Sumerian: asbu, etutu Swedish: mörker (sv) n. Tagalog: kadiliman Tamil: இருள் (ta) (irul) Telugu: చీకటి (te) (cIkaTi),రాత్రి (te) (raatri) Turkish: karanlık (tr) Urdu: اندھیرا (ur) (andherā) m. Vietnamese: bóng tối (vi) Welsh: tywyllwch West Frisian: tsjusternis (fy)

gloom

Catalan: tenebres (ca) f. pl. Dutch: schemering (nl) f.

French: noirceur (fr), (dated) sombreur (fr)

the product of being dark

French: ténèbres (fr) f. pl., noirceur (fr) f.

Scottish Gaelic: dubh (gd) m.

state of reflecting little light; tending to blackish or brownish

Catalan: negror (ca) f. French: noirceur (fr), (dated) sombreur (fr) Galician: negror (gl) m.

Portuguese: escuro (pt) Scottish Gaelic: dubhar (gd) m., dorchadas (gd) m., dubh (gd) m.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: malhelo (eo)