dark

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English derk, from Old English deorc (“dark, obscure, gloomy, without light, dreadful, horrible, sad, cheerless, sinister, wicked”), from Proto-Germanic *derkaz (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- (“dim, dull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“dull, dirty”). Cognate with Middle High German derken, terken (“to darken, sully”) and Albanian terr (“darkness”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: därk, IPA: /dɑː(ɹ)k/, X-SAMPA: /dA:(r\)k/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)k

Adjective

A fairly dark (lacking light) railroad station, with a very dark (lacking light) tunnel beyond

dark (comparative darker, superlative darkest)

1. Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.

   The room was too dark for reading.

2. (of colour) Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.

   My sister's hair is darker than mine.

   Her skin grew dark with a suntan.

3. Hidden, secret
   • (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare, King Lear, i 1

     "Meantime we shall express our darker purpose"

4. Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.
5. Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak

   The Great Depression was a dark time.

   The film was a dark psychological thriller.

6. Lacking progress in science or the arts; said of a time period
7. With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form or a portion of either

   The ending of this book is rather dark.

8. (of a source of light) Extinguished.

   Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs.

9. (gambling, of race horses) Having racing capability not widely known.

Synonyms

• (relative lack of light): dim, gloomy
• (sinister or secret): hidden, secret, sinister
• (without morals): malign, sinister
• (of colour): deep
• (conducive to hopelessness): hopeless, negative, pessimistic

Antonyms

• (relative lack of light): bright, light, lit
• (of colour): bright, light, pale

Related terms

• dark energy
• dark flow
• dark matter

Translations

having an absolute or relative lack of light

• Afrikaans: donker (af)
• American Sign Language: FlatB@SideNosehigh-PalmBack-FlatB@SideNosehigh-PalmBack RoundVert-RoundVert FlatB@CenterNeckhigh-PalmBack-FlatB@CenterNeckhigh-PalmBack
• Arabic: مظلم (ar) (múẓlim)
• Armenian: մութ (hy) (mut'), խավար (hy) (xavar)
• Belarusian: цёмны (be) (cjómny)
• Bengali: অন্ধকার (bn) (andhôkar)
• Breton: teñval (br)
• Bulgarian: тъмен (bg) (tǎ̀men)
• Burmese: နက် (my) (net)
• Catalan: fosc (ca), obscur (ca)
• Chamicuro: chpolyaye
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黑暗 (hak1 am3)

  Mandarin: 黑暗 (cmn) (hēi'àn)

• Chinese Characters: trad. 暗, simpl. 暗 (àn)
• Czech: tmavý (cs) m, temný (cs) m
• Dalmatian: sčor
• Danish: mørk (da)
• Dutch: donker (nl), duister (nl)
• Esperanto: malluma (eo), malhela (eo)
• Faroese: myrkur (fo), dimmur (fo), døkkur (fo)
• Finnish: pimeä (fi)
• French: obscur (fr), sombre (fr)
• Galician: escuro (gl)
• German: dunkel (de), finster (de)
• Gilbertese: ro
• Gothic: 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐌶𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (riqizeins)
• Greek: σκοτεινός (el) (skoteinós) m
• Hebrew: חשוך (he) (khashukh)
• Hindi: अंधेरा (hi) (andherā)
• Hungarian: sötét (hu)
• Icelandic: dökkur (is), dimmur (is)
• Interlingua: obscur (ia)
• Italian: scuro (it), oscuro (it), fosco (it), tetro (it)
• Japanese: 暗い (ja) (くらい, kurai)
• Jèrriais: sombre m and f
• Kazakh: қараңғы (kk) (qarañğı)
• Korean: 어둡다 (ko) (eodupda)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: تاریک (ku) (tAreek)

• Lao: ມືດ (lo) (myyt)

• Latgalian: tymss m, tymsa f
• Latin: obscūrus (la)
• Latvian: tumšs (lv) m
• Lithuanian: tamsus (lt) m, tamsi (lt) f
• Low German: düster (nds), duster (nds)
• Luxembourgish: däischter (lb), donkel (lb)
• Macedonian: темен (mk) (témen)
• Malay: gelap (ms)
• Malayalam: ഇരുട്ട് (ml) (iruttu), അന്ധകാരം (ml) (andhakaaram)
• Marathi: अंधार (mr), अंधकार (mr), काळोख (mr)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mørk (nb)

  Nynorsk: mørk (nn)

• Occitan: escur (oc)
• Old English: deorc (ang)
• Persian: تاریک (fa) (târik)
• Polish: ciemny (pl) m
• Portuguese: escuro (pt)
• Romanian: murg (ro), închis (ro), întunecat (ro)
• Romansch: stgir (rm), stgeir (rm), s-chür (rm)
• Russian: тёмный (ru) (tjómnyj)
• Scots: mirk
• Scottish Gaelic: dorcha (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: таман (sh)

  Roman: taman (sh)

• Slovak: tmavý (sk), temný (sk)
• Slovene: temen (sl)
• Spanish: oscuro (es)
• Swahili: giza (sw)
• Swedish: mörk (sv)
• Tamil: இருள் (ta) (irul)
• Telugu: చీకటి (te) (cheekaTi), గాఢాంధకారము (te) (gadhamdhakaramu)
• Thai: มืด (th) (mêut)
• Turkish: karanlık (tr)
• Ukrainian: темний (uk) (témnyj)
• Urdu: اندھیرا (ur) (andherā) m
• Vietnamese: tối (vi)
• Welsh: tywyll (cy)
• West Frisian: tsjuster (fy), donker (fy)
• ǃXóõ: dtʻkxʻái

hidden, secret

• Armenian: մութ (hy) (mut')
• Bulgarian: тъмен (bg) (tămen)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 隱祕的 (jan2 bei3 dik1)

  Mandarin: trad. 隱祕的, simpl. 隐秘的 (yǐnmì de)

• Czech: temný (cs)
• Danish: dunkel (da), hemmelighedsfuld (da)
• Dutch: duister (nl), geheim (nl)
• Finnish: pimeä (fi)
• French: obscur (fr)
• German: dunkel (de), düster (de)
• Hindi: गुप्त (hi), छिपा हुवा (hi)
• Hungarian: sötét (hu)
• Italian: oscuro (it)
• Japanese: 隠密の (ja) (onmitsu no), 秘密の (ja) (himitsu no)
• Korean: 어둡다 (ko) (eodupda)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: تاریک (ku) (tAreek)

• Latvian: tumšs (lv) m
• Marathi: गुप्त (mr), लपलेले (mr)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mørk (nb)

  Nynorsk: mørk (nn)

• Persian: پنهان (fa) (penhân), نهان (fa) (nehân), پوشیده (fa) (pōšida)
• Polish: mroczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: obscuro (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: zamračeno (sh), zatamnjeno (sh)

• Slovene: temen (sl)
• Swedish: mörk (sv)
• Telugu: మర్మము (te) (marmamu)
• Turkish: karanlık (tr)
• Vietnamese: mờ ám (vi)

without moral or spiritual light

• Armenian: մութ (hy) (mut')
• Bulgarian: мрачен (bg) (mračen)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 邪惡的 (ce4 ok3 dik1)

  Mandarin: trad. 邪惡的, simpl. 邪恶的 (xiéè de)

• Czech: temný (cs) m
• Danish: mørk (da), skummel (da)
• Finnish: synkkä (fi), paha (fi)
• German: schwarz (de)
• Hebrew: אפל (he) (afel) m, קודר (he) (qoder)

• Japanese: 邪悪な (ja) (jaakuna), 腹黒い (ja) (haraguroi)
• Korean: 어둡다 (ko) (eodupda)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mørk (nb)

  Nynorsk: mørk (nn)

• Russian: мрачный (ru) (mráčnyj), угрюмый (ru) (ugrjúmyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: mračno (sh) n, mračan (sh) m, mračna (sh) f

• Swedish: mörk (sv)

not bright or light, deeper in hue

• Armenian: մուգ (hy) (mug)
• Bulgarian: тъмен (bg) (tămen), мрачен (bg) (mračen)
• Catalan: fosc (ca), obscur (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黑暗 (hak1 am3)

  Mandarin: trad. 黑暗, simpl. 黑暗 (hēiàn)

• Czech: tmavý (cs) m
• Danish: mørke- (da)
• Finnish: tumma (fi)
• French: foncé (fr)
• German: dunkel (de)
• Hebrew: כהה (he)
• Japanese: 暗い (ja) (kurai), 濃い (ja) (koi)
• Korean: 어둡다 (ko) (eodupda)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: تاریک (ku) (tAreek)

• Latvian: tumšs (lv) m
• Marathi: फिके (mr)
• Norwegian: mørk (no)

  Bokmål: mørk (nb)

  Nynorsk: mørk (nn)

• Russian: тёмный (ru) (tjómnyj)
• Scots: mirk
• Scottish Gaelic: dorcha (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: pomračno (sh)

• Spanish: oscuro (es)
• Swedish: mörk (sv)
• Turkish: koyu (tr)
• West Frisian: donker (fy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: errët (sq), murgash (sq)
• Serbo-Croatian: taman (sh)
• French: sombre (fr)
• Ido: tenebroza (io)
• Italian: buio (it), tenebroso (it), oscuro (it), fosco (it)

• Lithuanian: tamsus (lt)
• Old Norse: dökkr
• Romanian: intunecat (ro), sumbru (ro), obscur (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: mračan (sh)
• Slovak: tmavý (sk)
• Spanish: oscuro (es)
• Telugu: అంధకారం (te) (aMdhakaaraM)

Noun

dark (usually uncountable; plural darks)

1. A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.

   Dark surrounds us completely.

2. (uncountable) Ignorance.

   We kept him in the dark.

   The lawyer was left in the dark as to why the jury was dismissed.

3. (uncountable) Nightfall.

   It was after dark before we got to playing baseball.

Translations

a complete or partial absence of light

• Armenian: մթություն (hy) (mt'ut'yun), խավար (hy) (xavar)
• Aromanian: ãntunearic (rup)
• Breton: teñvalded (br) f
• Bulgarian: мрак (bg) (mrak) m, тъмнина (bg) (tămnina) f
• Catalan: foscor (ca) f, obscuritat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 黑, simpl. 黑 (hēi), trad. 黑暗, simpl. 黑暗 (hēiàn)

• Czech: temnota (cs) f, tma (cs) f
• Danish: mørke (da)
• Dutch: donker (nl) n
• Finnish: pimeys (fi)
• French: obscurité (fr)
• German: Dunkelheit (de) f, Dunkel (de) n
• Gothic: 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐍃 (riqis) n
• Greek: σκοτάδι (el) (skotádi) n
• Hebrew: חושך (he) (khoshekh) m, חשך (he) (khoshekh) m
• Hungarian: sötétség (hu)
• Irish: dorchacht (ga) f
• Italian: oscurità (it) f, tenebra (it) f
• Japanese: 暗黒 (ja) (ankoku), 暗闇 (ja) (kurayami), 闇 (ja) (yami)
• Korean: 어둠 (ko) (eodum), 암흑 (ko) (amheuk)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: تاریک (ku) (tAreek)

• Latin: obscuritas (la) f
• Latvian: tumsa (lv) f
• Lithuanian: tamsa (lt) f
• Norwegian: mørke (no) n

  Bokmål: mørke (nb) n

  Nynorsk: mørke (nn) n, mørker (nn) n

• Polish: ciemność (pl) f
• Romanian: întuneric (ro)
• Russian: тьма (ru) (t'ma), темнота (ru) (t'emnotá), мрак (ru) (mrak)
• Sardinian: iscuru (sc), scuru (sc)
• Scots: mirk
• Scottish Gaelic: dorchadas (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: tama (sh), tamnoća (sh), polumrak (sh) (semi dark), tamnina (sh), mrak (sh)

• Slovene: tema (sl) f
• Spanish: oscuridad (es) f
• Swedish: mörker (sv)
• Turkish: karanlık (tr)
• Vietnamese: bóng tối (vi)

ignorance

• Armenian: մթություն (hy) (mt'ut'yun)
• Breton: teñvalijenn (br)
• Bulgarian: невидение (bg) (nevidenie) n, незнание (bg) (neznanie) n
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 黑暗, simpl. 黑暗 (hēiàn)

• Czech: temnota (cs) f
• Danish: uvidenhed (da)
• Dutch: ongewisse (nl), onwetendheid (nl) f
• Finnish: tietämättömyys (fi)
• German: Dunkel (de) n
• Hungarian: tudatlanság (hu)
• Italian: oscurità (it) f
• Korean: 무식 (ko) (musik)

• Latin: obscuritas (la) f
• Malayalam: അറിവില്ലായ്‌മ (ml) (aRivillayma), അജ്ഞത (ml) (ajnjatha)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uvitenhet (nb) m and f

  Nynorsk: uvisse (nn) f

• Polish: mroki (pl) n pl
• Russian: неведение (ru) (n'ev'éd'enije) n
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: táma (sh) f, mrȃk (sh)

• Slovene: nevednost (sl)
• Spanish: oscuridad (es) f
• Vietnamese: (sự) dốt nát, (sự) ngu dốt, (sự) ngu muội

nightfall

• Armenian: մութ (hy) (mut')
• Bulgarian: свечеряване (bg) (svečerjavane) n
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 黄昏, simpl. 黄昏 (huánghūn)

• Czech: tma (cs) f
• Danish: mørke (da), skumring (da)
• Dutch: nachtval (nl) c, het vallen van de avond (nl)
• Finnish: pimeys (fi)
• French: tombée de la nuit (fr)
• German: Dunkelwerden (de)
• Greek: σούρουπο (el) (soúroupo)
• Hungarian: sötétedés (hu)
• Italian: tenebra (it) f, tramonto (it) m
• Korean: 해질녘 (ko) (haejilnyeok)

• Latin: annoctatio (la)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mørke (nb) n, skumring (nb) m and f

  Nynorsk: mørke (nn) n, mørker (nn) n, skumring (nn) f

• Polish: zmrok (pl) m
• Russian: темнота (ru) (t'emnotá)
• Scots: gloamin, mirk
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: mrak (sh), tamnoća (sh), tamnina (sh), tama (sh) f

• Slovene: tema (sl) f, mrak (sl) m
• Spanish: anochecer (es) m
• Vietnamese: đêm (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: terr (sq) m
• Breton: teñvalijenn (br) f
• Catalan: fosca (ca) f
• French: noir (fr) m, obscurité (fr) f
• Ido: tenebro (io)
• Italian: buio (it) m

• Romanian: intuneric (ro) n, obscuritate (ro) f
• Serbo-Croatian: mrak (sh) m
• Telugu: చీకటి (te) (cIkaTi), నిశి (te) (niSi), నిశీధి (te) (niSIdhi), రాత్రి (te) (raatri)

Derived terms

Related terms

after dark all cats are gray in the dark at dark bedarken before dark Dark Ages dark blue dark brown dark chocolate dark comedy Dark Continent dark current dark elves darken v dark energy darkey dark fiber darkfield dark field dark figure darkful dark glasses dark horse dark house

darkie darkish dark lantern darkle dark matter dark meat dark nebula darkness n dark reaction dark red darkroom dark-room dark room dark-skinned dark side darksome dark space dark star darky endark oh dark thirty pitch-dark shot in the dark whistle in the dark

See also

• black
• shadow

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: terms · sort · town · #436: dark · ye · common · subject

Anagrams

• k-rad

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Italian

Etymology

English

Adjective

dark (invariable)

1. dark (used especially to describe a form of punk music)