pitch-black

English

Alternative forms

• pitchblack, pitch black

Etymology

From pitch (“tar”) +‎ black. Compare West Frisian pikswart (literally “pitch-black”), Dutch pikzwart (literally “pitch-black”), German pechschwarz (literally “pitch-black”), Swedish becksvart (literally “pitch-black”), Icelandic biksvartur (literally “pitch-black”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

pitch-black (comparative more pitch-black, superlative most pitch-black)

1. Very dark; without light.

   Synonyms: black as coal, black as tar, black as night, tar-black

Usage notes

• Sometimes, pitch is treated as if it means "intense" or "dark", leading to the alternative superlative pitchest-black.

Derived terms

• pitch-blackened
• pitch-blackness

Translations

of the blackest black — see also in the dark

• Azerbaijani: qapqara, zil qara
• Bulgarian: катраненочерен (katranenočeren), черен като катран (čeren kato katran), черен като въглен (čeren kato văglen)
• Catalan: negre d'atzabeja
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黑沉沉 (zh) (hēichēnchēn), 漆黑 (zh) (qīhēi), 墨黑 (zh) (mòhēi), 烏黑 / 乌黑 (zh) (wūhēi), 黑漆漆 (zh) (hēiqīqī)

• Czech: černočerný (cs)
• Danish: kulsort, begsort
• Dutch: pikzwart (nl)
• Esperanto: karbonigra, peĉnigra
• Estonian: süsimust
• Finnish: pikimusta (fi), sysimusta (fi)
• French: noir complet, noir total, noir comme poix, nuit noire (fr)
• Galician: negro coma pez, negro coma a pez
• Georgian: კუპრისფერი (ḳuṗrisperi), ნახშირისფერი (naxširisperi), კუნაპეტი (ḳunaṗeṭi), უკუნი (uḳuni)
• German: pechschwarz (de), stockdunkel (de), stockfinster (de), jettschwarz (de)
• Greek: κατάμαυρος (el) (katámavros)
• Hungarian: koromfekete (hu), szurokfekete (hu)
• Icelandic: kolamyrkur (is) n, svartamyrkur (is) n
• Ingrian: pikimusta
• Irish: ciardhubh
• Italian: cupo (it), nero come la pece, buio pesto (it)
• Japanese: 漆黒の (ja) (しっこくの, shikkoku no)
• Latin: piceus
• Luxembourgish: pechschwaarz
• Māori: hinapouri, pouri ngihangiha, tuauriuri, niwaniwa
• Navajo: diłhił
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kullsvart, beksvart, bekmørk

  Nynorsk: kolsvart, beksvart

• Polish: gagatowy (pl), smołowy
• Portuguese: preto como carvão
• Romanian: negru complet, negru ca tăciunele
• Russian: смоляно́й (ru) (smoljanój), у́гольно-чёрный (úgolʹno-čórnyj), чёрный как смоль (čórnyj kak smolʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh dorch
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мркли мрак m

  Latin: mrkli mrak m

• Spanish: negro como la pez, muy oscuro, oscurísimo (es), más negro que los cojones de un burro (vulgar), más negro que un tizón (colloquial)
• Swahili: eusi ti ti ti
• Swedish: kolsvart (sv), becksvart (sv), beckmörk (sv), kolmörk (sv), ramsvart (sv), gagatsvart
• Tajik: сип-сиёҳ (tg) (sip-siyoh)
• Turkish: kapkara (tr), simsiyah (tr), kuzguni (tr), zifiri karanlık
• Uzbek: zimziyo (uz), qop-qora (uz)
• Vietnamese: tối om (vi), tối thui (vi), tối đen (vi)
• Welsh: pygddu (cy), purddu