How to say “black” in Chinese
black; dark
“Black” in Chinese is 黑, hēi: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
黑 is read hēi. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
At the bottom, 灬 “fire”: soot.
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “黑”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 黑. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 你要红色的还是黑色的nǐyàohóngsèdeháishihēisèdeDo you want the red one or the black one?
- 这条黑色的裤子不错，多少钱？zhètiáohēisèdekùzibúcuò,duōshaoqiánThese black pants are nice — how much are they?
- 你要黑色的还是白色的？nǐyàohēisèdeháishibáisèdeDo you want the black one or the white one?
- 黑板上的字我看不清楚。hēibǎnshangdezìwǒkànbuqīngchuI can't make out what's written on the board.
- 他穿了一套黑色的西装tāchuānleyítàohēisèdexīzhuāngHe put on a black suit.
- 穿黑色的衣服显得瘦。chuānhēisèdeyīfuxiǎndeshòuBlack clothes make you look slimmer.
More characters by topic — happiness, luck, strength, nature — on the page “Chinese characters with meanings”.
More words from the lesson “Colors”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “black” in Chinese?
“Black” in Chinese is 黑, pinyin hēi.
What does 黑 mean?
黑 (hēi) means “black; dark”.
How do you write 黑?
黑 is 1 character. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 黑?
黑 is read hēi. Tones: hēi — first tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“black” in the lesson “Colors”
This word is from the topic “Animals, plants, colors” of HSK 5. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
Start for free