English → Latin
“black” in Latin
āterdull black (as opposed to niger, shining black); dark; gloomy, sad, dismal, unlucky; malevolentnigerwan, shining black (as opposed to āter, dull black); black, dark brown; bad; evil; ill-omenedpullusany young animal, young, especially; a shoot, a young plant; darlingfuscusswarthy, dusky, dark; husky, hoarseātrātusclothed in black (for mourning); darkened, blackenedpullātusclothed in dirty or black clothes; of the common people; dressed in mourning clothes, mourningatrōxfierce, savage, bloody; heinous, cruel, severe; terrible, frightening, dreadfulscelestuswicked, villainous, criminal, abominable; calamitous, unfortunatetrīstissad, unhappy, melancholy, morose; sorrowful, mournful; disagreeable, harsh, bitter (of taste)nigrēscōto blacken; to darken; to become black or dark
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
black
ater (opposed to albus; figuratively, mournful, calamitous): niger (opposed to candidus): pullus (dirty, dingy black, by nature or by dirt): fuscus (blackish; e.g., of a skin burned by the sun): atratus, pullatus (dressed in black): atrox (atrocious, horrible): scelestus (accursed): tristis, tetricua (gloomy, sullen). To become black, nigrescere. To be black, nigrere. To be somewhat black, nigricare. Black and blue, lividus. The black art, ars magica. In black and white, scriptus: to have a thing under black and white, fidem litterarum habere. A sky black with clouds, caelum obscurum. Blackberry, morum rubi, rubum: bush, rubus. Blackbird, merula. Blacksmith, faber ferrarius. Black-thorn, prunus silvestris; prunus spinosa (Linn.).
black s.
color niger; atramentum.
Black dress, pulla vestis, pulla (plur.); vestis or cultus lugubris, squalor, sordes. Dressed in black (mourning), sordidatus; pullatus, atratus, veste lugubri vestitus.
The black of a thing, atrum, nigrum.
A negro, Aethiops, Afer.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for black?
- The usual Latin words for “black” are āter, niger, pullus; also fuscus, ātrātus, pullātus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.