darkness

English

Alternative forms

• darckness (obsolete)
• darkeness (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English derknesse, from Old English deorcnes; equivalent to dark +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑːknəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑɹknɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)knɪs, -ɑː(ɹ)knəs
• Hyphenation: dark‧ness

Noun

darkness (countable and uncountable, plural darknesses)

1. (uncountable) The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light.

   The darkness of the room made it difficult to see.

   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     Over everything was darkness and thick silence, and the smell of dust and sunflowers.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

2. (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.

3. (uncountable) Gloom; gloominess; depression.
4. (countable) The product of being dark.
5. (uncountable) Lack of understanding or compassion; spiritual or mental blindness.
6. (uncountable) Secrecy; concealment.
7. (uncountable) Lack of knowledge; obscurity or meaning or intelligibility; the unknown.
   • 1899 Feb, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 195:

     It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness.

8. (uncountable) Hell.
   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Eden Prime:

     Shepard: Can you tell me anything about the beacon?
     Dr. Warren: It's some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network. Remarkably well-preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime!
     Dr. Warren: Miraculous new technologies. Groundbreaking medical advances. Who knows what secrets are locked inside?
     Dr. Manuel: We have unearthed the heart of evil. Awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness.

Antonyms

• lightness
• light

Derived terms

• pitch darkness
• semi-darkness, semidarkness

Translations

state of being dark

• Abkhaz: алашьцара (alaš̍cara)
• Albanian: terr (sq) m, errësirë (sq) f, mugëtirë (sq) f
• Arabic: ظَلَام‎ m (ẓalām), ظُلْمَة‎ (ar) f (ẓulma)

  South Levantine Arabic: عتمة‎ f (ʕatme)

• Armenian: խավար (hy) (xavar), մթություն (hy) (mtʿutʿyun)
• Aromanian: ãntunearic, ntunearic n, scutidi f
• Asturian: escuridá (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: qaranlıq (az), zülmət (az)
• Belarusian: це́мра f (cjémra), змрок m (zmrok)
• Bulgarian: мрак (bg) m (mrak), тъмнина (bg) f (tǎmnina)
• Catalan: foscor (ca) f
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵍⵍⴰⵙⵜ f (tallast)
• Cherokee: ᎤᎳᏏᎬᎢ (ulasigvi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黑暗 (zh) (hēi'àn)

• Czech: tma (cs) f, temnota (cs) f
• Danish: mørke (da)
• Dutch: duisternis (nl) f, donkerheid f
• Egyptian: (kkw m), (wḫ m), (snkt f)
• Esperanto: mallumo (eo)
• Estonian: pimedus
• Ewe: viviti
• Finnish: pimeys (fi)
• French: obscurité (fr) f, ténèbres (fr) f pl, (dated) sombreur (fr), noirceur (fr) f
• Galician: escuridade (gl) f, tebras (gl) f pl, mourén m, foscume m, escureza f, calixen f
• Georgian: სიბნელე (sibnele), წყვდიადი (c̣q̇vdiadi), უკუნეთი (uḳuneti)
• German: Dunkelheit (de) f, Finsternis (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐍃 n (riqis)
• Greek: σκοτάδι (el) n (skotádi), έρεβος (el) n (érevos), ζόφος (el) m (zófos)

  Ancient: σκότος m or n (skótos), ζόφος m (zóphos), δνόφος m (dnóphos)

• Hebrew: אֲפֵלָה‎ (he) f (afelá), חֹשֶׁךְ‎ (he) m (ẖóshech), עֲלָטָה‎ (he) f ('alatá) (literary)
• Hindi: अंधेरा (hi) m (andherā), अन्धेरा (hi) m (andherā)
• Hungarian: sötétség (hu)
• Hunsrik: tunkelheet
• Icelandic: myrkur (is) n, dimma (is) f, nifl (is) n, ljósleysa f
• Ido: tenebro (io)
• Indonesian: kegelapan (id)
• Istriot: tienabre
• Italian: buio (it) m, oscurità (it) f, tenebre (it) f pl
• Japanese: 闇 (ja) (やみ, yami), 暗黒 (ja) (あんこく, ankoku)
• Javanese: pepeteng
• Kapampangan: kedalumduman
• Kazakh: қараңғылық (kk) (qarañğılıq), түнек (tünek)
• Khmer: ភាពងងឹត (pʰiep ŋɔŋɨt)
• Korean: 암흑(暗黑) (ko) (amheuk), 어두움 (어둠) (eoduum (eodum))
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تاریکی‎ (ku) (tarîkî)

• Latgalian: timss m, tymsums m
• Latin: tenebrae (la) f pl, caligo f, obscuritas f, nox (la)
• Latvian: tumsa f
• Lithuanian: tamsa (lt) f
• Lombard: scur (lmo)
• Luxembourgish: Däischtert (lb) f, Donkelheet (lb) f
• Macedonian: темнина f (temnina), мрак m (mrak)
• Malagasy: ny maìzina (mg)
• Malayalam: ഇരുട്ട് (ml) (iruṭṭŭ)
• Maltese: dlam

• Maori: hinapouri, taipouri, whēuriuri
• Marathi: अंधार (andhār)
• Middle English: derknesse
• Mongolian: харанхуй (mn) (kharankhui)
• Mwani: kisi
• Navajo: chahałheeł
• Ngazidja Comorian: hidza 7
• Northern Sami: seavdnjat, seavdnjadas
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mørke n

  Nynorsk: mørker n, mørke n

• Occitan: foscor (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: тьма f (tĭma)

• Old English: þīestru f
• Persian: تیرگی‎ (fa) (tiregi), تاریکی‎ (fa) (târiki)
• Polish: ciemność (pl) f, mrok (pl) m
• Portuguese: escuridão (pt) f, trevas (pt) f pl
• Punjabi:

  Shahmukhi: ہَنیر‎ m (haner), ہَنیرا‎ m (hanerā)

• Quechua: laqha
• Romagnol: bur
• Romanian: întuneric (ro), întunecime (ro) f
• Russian: темнота́ (ru) f (temnotá), тьма (ru) f (tʹma), мрак (ru) m (mrak), потёмки (ru) f pl (potjómki)
• Sanskrit: रजस् (sa) n (rajas), ध्वान्त (sa) n (dhvānta), अन्धकार (sa) n (andhakāra), तमस् (sa) n (tamas)
• Scottish Gaelic: dubhar m, dorchadas m, dubh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тама f

  Roman: tama (sh) f, tamnoća, mračnina, mračnost (sh)

• Slovak: tma (sk) f, temnota f
• Slovene: tema (sl) f
• Spanish: oscuridad (es) f
• Sumerian: 𒂿 (/etutum/), 𒋯 (/gansis/), 𒌖 (/itima/), 𒀯𒅊 (/mulsig/), 𒍪𒈬𒊌 (/sumug/), 𒌓𒄷𒄭 (/udmud/)
• Swedish: mörker (sv) n
• Tagalog: kadiliman
• Tamil: இருள் (ta) (iruḷ)
• Telugu: చీకటి (te) (cīkaṭi), అంధకారము (te) (andhakāramu)
• Thai: ความมืด (th) (kwaam mêut)
• Tibetan: མུན་པ (mun pa)
• Tocharian B: orkamo
• Tok Pisin: tudak (tpi)
• Turkish: karanlık (tr)
• Udi: беъиънкъ (be̱i̱nq̇), байинкъ (bajinq̇)
• Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎄𐎂𐎚 (mdgt)
• Ukrainian: те́мрява (uk) f (témrjava), тьма́ f (tʹmá), мо́рок m (mórok), темно́та f (temnóta), темнота́ f (temnotá)
• Urdu: اندھیرا‎ m (andherā)
• Vietnamese: bóng tối
• Welsh: tywyllwch (cy)
• West Frisian: tsjusternis
• Yiddish: פֿינצטערניש‎ f or n (fintsternish)
• Yoruba: òkùnkùn
• Yámana: akuš

gloom

• Catalan: tenebres (ca) f pl
• Danish: mørke (da)
• Dutch: schemering (nl) f
• Esperanto: tenebro (eo)
• Finnish: synkkyys (fi)
• French: noirceur (fr), (dated) sombreur (fr)

• Italian: buio (it) m
• Middle English: derknesse
• Portuguese: trevas (pt) f pl
• Romanian: întristare (ro) f, tristețe (ro) f
• Spanish: tinieblas (es) f pl

the product of being dark

• Finnish: pimeys (fi)
• French: ténèbres (fr) f pl, noirceur (fr) f

• Middle English: derknesse
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh (gd) m

state of reflecting little light; tending to blackish or brownish

• Catalan: negror (ca) f
• Finnish: tummuus
• French: noirceur (fr), (dated) sombreur (fr)
• Galician: negror m
• Italian: scuro (it) m
• Middle English: derknesse

• Northern Sami: seavdnjatvuohta
• Portuguese: escuro (pt)
• Romanian: negreală (ro) f
• Scottish Gaelic: dubhar m, dorchadas 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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} malhelo

Anagrams

• Danskers