Black Color Or Light Human Usage Symbolism Colloquial

Pigments that absorb light rather than reflect it back to the eye "look black". A black pigment can, however, result from a combination of several pigments that collectively absorb all colors. If appropriate proportions of three primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects so little light as to be called "black".

This provides two superficially opposite but actually complementary descriptions of black. Black is the lack of all colors of light, or an exhausive combination of multiple colors of pigment. See also Primary colors and Primary pigments.

2 Human

The term black is also used by some for people with dark skin color, usually of sub-Saharan African origin (in fact the color of the skin is not black, but any of a variety of shades of brown).

There is a scientific consensus that race is not a biological category, that "blackness" is a social construct as some people who call themselves "black" are also of European, Native American and/or Asian descent.

In many countries, there is still a strong (though weakening) social stigma against those persons identifying themselves as part of more than one perceived racial category. Hence, it may be truer to say that people who perceive themselves or are perceived by others as a member of a black cultural group are often called "black."

The term " negro" (from negro, Spanish for 'black') was widely used until the 1960s, and remains a constituent part of the names of several African American organizations. However, following the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the term 'negro' was usually deemed derogatory and inappropriate. By contrast, the English translation, 'black', has gained increasing acceptance worldwide and in the U.S. often is used interchangeably with "African-American."

The derived term " niggerThe term nigger can refer to: Nigger a derogatory term for dark-skinned people of African descent The Nigger a 1909 play by Edward Sheldon exploring black-white relationships Nigger the name of the Labrador owned by Guy Gibson, and shown in the film The D", once used widely to refer to people of African descent in a derogatory way, is now almost always considered to be extremely offensive. The exception where some African-Americans have sought to reclaim the term from its racist history by transmuting it to the variant "nigga" by using this to identify themselves in a non-derogatory way. Nevertheless, this term is always considered offensive when used by someone who is perceived as not being of African ancestry.

In largely "white" countries, mixed-race people of part-African descent are often referred to as being "black." In other places, persons of mixed race and part African descent are not called "black" due to casteVarna (caste) Caste is derived from a Portuguese word for lineage, breed or race, casta''. The term caste when used in human culture is usually in conjunction with the social division in Hindu society, particularly in India. This term is also used in ento systems in their countries of orgin. Some are called "white" because they have an especially light complexion or European-looking features. When such people are perceived as using their complexions to personal advantage or hiding or denying the African part of their heritage, it is often called " passingPassing is a slang term used when a person appears to be someone or something else or makes others believe that they are. It is attributed, generally, to being able to be accepted as a member of the opposite gender a different race or to appear as not hav."

Locale or language	Usage
Australia	AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring countn Aborigines are commonly called black.
Canada	Canadians use the term Black Canadian to refer to people with dark or African skin.
United Kingdom	The term black Briton is sometimes used in the UK, but it is more common to use an adjectival rather than a noun term and write about black British people. Sometimes the description is loosely used to include what is actually a larger grouping, British people of south Asian descent.
United States	In the USA, African Americans are commonly called, and call themselves, black.
French	The French slang term black (pronounced the same as English, except in plural in which form the S is not pronounced) is a pseudo-anglicism, used only as a noun.
Polish	Poles (Polish: Polacy) use the term czarnuch (pl. czarnuchy) to refer to people of Africoid origins in their country. However, more common is the word muzyn (pl. muzyni), which has no negative connotations. Czarnuch is actually degrading.
Romanian	Romanians use the term negri (blacks) to refer to African or African-American people, either in or outside Romania. Negri is not used to refer to other dark-skinned people, such as Pacific Islanders or Indians. The diminutive form negrotei might be occasionally considered offensive.
Russian	Ironically, Russians today apply the name chornyye (чёрные, Blacks) mostly not to Africans, but to people from Caucasus, which quite naturally belong to the Caucasian race. Africans are usually called negry (не́гры, Negroes).

3 Usage, symbolism, colloquial expressions

In Western societies black is most often used with a negative connotation, with a few notable exceptions. For instance, a "black day" would be used in these cultures to refer to a sad or tragic day. However, to say one's accounts are "in the black" is used to mean that one is free of debt; being "in the red" is to be in debt—because in traditional bookkeeping, negative amounts were printed in red ink (such as losses) and positive amounts (such as profits) were printed in black ink.

In arguments, things can be black or white, or shades of gray, the intensity used as an analogue for things such as truthfulness or right and wrong. (Note that when referring to the intensity of pigment or light, black is always the complete lack of intensity.)

In Western cultures and their colonial offshoots, the color black is often used in painting, film, and literature to evoke a sense of the unknown or of death. In these cultures, the color black is often seen as the color of mourning, though this convention is less strict than in earlier times, when widows and widowers were expected to wear black for a year after the death of their spouses.

However, in Western fashion, black is a color that is noted as being a reliably stylish choice for formal and recreational clothes, especially for social gatherings. The tuxedo is a prime example of this.

However, in other cultures, such as the Maasai tribes of Kenya and Tanzania, the color black is associated with rain clouds and is thus a symbol of life and prosperity.

Black is frequently used figuratively for lack of metaphorical light. A Black Project is a project not readily visible, such as government actions kept secret from the public, (such as Enigma Decryption or narcs,) or organizations that keep a low profile, (such as certain Société Anonyme or most secret societies.) Black propaganda is the use of known falsehoods, partial truths, or masquerades in propaganda to confuse an opponent.

The term " black hole" is applied to collapsed stars because it is commonly believed that, like a black object, they neither reflect nor emit light (this is actually false: see Stephen Hawking's research on the matter). (The term is metaphorical in the extreme, because no other properties of black objects or black voids apply to black holes, which more literally could be described as lacking almost all familiar properties, rather than having the property of blackness in place other colorations.)

The national rugby team of New Zealand is called the All Blacks, in reference to their black outfits.

Soccer referees traditionally wear all-black outfits, although nowadays the rules have changed and referees are seen wearing outfits in different colors.

In auto racing, a black flag signals a certain driver to go into the pits.

A polished black scrying mirror is used to see into the paranormal world without interference or distractions from the surroundings.

4 Color coordinates

Hex triplet = #000000 RGB (r, g, b) = (0, 0, 0) CMYK (c, m, y, k) = (0, 0, 0, 255) (canonical) = (255, 255, 255, 0) (ideal inks, theoretical only) = (255, 255, 255, 255) ( registration black ) HSV (h, s, v) = (0*, 0*, 0)

(or any other value)

5 See also

List of colors

colors

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1 Color or light