Chinese symbol for “black”
黑
hēi
black; dark; sinister; secret
The closest CC-CEDICT match for black is 黑 (hēi), defined as: black; dark; sinister; secret; shady; illegal.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “black”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 黑色 | hēi sè | black |
| 玄 | xuán | black; mysterious |
| 淄 | zī | black; name of a river |
| 黝 | yǒu | black; dark green |
| 青 | qīng | green; blue |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 黑.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 黑人 | hēi rén | black person; an illegal |
| 黑暗 | hēi àn | dark; darkly |
| 黑色 | hēi sè | black |
| 黑白 | hēi bái | black and white; right and wrong |
| 黑客 | hēi kè | (computing) (loanword) hacker |
| 黑帮 (黑幫) | hēi bāng | bunch of gangsters; criminal gang |
See also: Japanese symbol for “black”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.