黑
black; dark
hēi
What does 黑 mean?
黑 (hēi) covers two related meanings English usually splits: the color 'black' (黑色 hēisè, the noun form 'black color') and the broader idea of 'dark / unlit.' 天黑了 ('the sky has gotten dark') is how you say 'it's nighttime now,' and 黑夜 (hēiyè) is 'dark night.' As a color word, 黑 modifies nouns directly (黑头发 black hair, 黑车 black car / unlicensed taxi) or pairs with 色 to form 黑色 ('the color black') for more formal use. Cultural notes: in China, black isn't strongly associated with mourning the way it is in the West — white (白) carries that role at funerals. Black is associated with formality, business, and (in modern slang) shady/illegal things — 黑车 is an unlicensed taxi, 黑钱 is dirty money, 黑客 is a hacker. Online, 黑 has become a verb meaning 'to badmouth or troll someone publicly.'
Note: Neutral and everyday. In modern slang, 黑 has picked up a verb sense ('to badmouth, to troll') — 黑某人 (hēi mǒu rén) means to publicly trash-talk someone online; that usage is colloquial internet Chinese.
Character breakdown
black; dark (the bottom four dots 灬 are the 'fire' radical — the character originally pictured soot from smoke)
Memory hook: Picture smoke (灬 fire dots at the bottom) leaving black soot on a window — that's 黑.
Example sentences
我喜欢黑色的衣服。
Wǒ xǐhuan hēisè de yīfu.
I like black clothes.
neutral
天黑了，我们回家吧。
Tiān hēi le, wǒmen huí jiā ba.
It's dark out — let's head home.
spoken
他的头发又黑又长。
Tā de tóufa yòu hēi yòu cháng.
His/her hair is both black and long.
neutral
我每天早上喝一杯黑咖啡。
Wǒ měi tiān zǎoshang hē yì bēi hēi kāfēi.
I drink a cup of black coffee every morning.
spoken
房间里太黑了，请开灯。
Fángjiān lǐ tài hēi le, qǐng kāi dēng.
It's too dark in the room — please turn on the light.
spoken
Common phrases with 黑
Synonyms
暗 ('dim / dark') is about low light, not the color black. 房间很暗 ('the room is dim'); 房间很黑 ('the room is pitch black' or possibly 'the room is painted black').
乌 means 'crow-black / glossy black,' used in fixed compounds like 乌黑 (jet-black) and 乌云 (dark clouds). Literary; not used as a standalone color word in conversation.
Don't confuse 黑 with
黒 is the Japanese kanji form of 黑 — same meaning, slightly different stroke shape. In simplified Chinese, always write 黑.
嘿 ('hey!') sounds identical and shares the 黑 component, but it's an interjection used to call attention. 嘿，你看！ ('Hey, look!').
黑社会 ('the underworld / mafia') uses 黑 in the figurative 'illegal / shady' sense — same character, extended meaning. Don't read literal 'black society.'