black lives matter

English

A Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis. In this case, protesting the death of George Floyd.

Alternative forms

• Black lives matter

Etymology

Originally used in the form of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media (2013), protesting against the deaths of African Americans at the hands of the police.

Phrase

black lives matter

1. (politics, originally US) A rallying call and statement of protest, concerning police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people.

   Synonym: BLM

Usage notes

• Sometimes extended to cover ethnic black African minorities in countries outside the US, or other ethnic minorities with darker complexions in traditionally white countries.

Related terms

• WLM / white lives matter
• ALM / all lives matter
• PLM / police lives matter
• blue lives matter
• red lives matter

Translations

statement of protest

• Arabic: حَيَاةُ السُّودِ مُهِمَّة (ḥayātu as-sūdi muhimma)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黑人的命也是命 (hēirén de mìng yěshì mìng), 黑人的命很重要 (hēirén de mìng hěn zhòngyào)

• Esperanto: nigrulaj vivoj gravas
• Finnish: mustien elämällä on väliä
• French: les vies noires comptent
• German: schwarze Leben zählen
• Japanese: 黒人の命は大切 (こくじんのいのちは大切たいせつ, kokujin no inochi wa taisetsu) (the most common media translation)
• Korean: 흑인의 생명은 소중하다 (heugin-ui saengmyeong-eun sojunghada)
• Malay: nyawa orang hitam penting
• Portuguese: vidas negras importam
• Russian: жи́зни черноко́жих име́ют значе́ние (žízni černokóžix iméjut značénije), жи́зни чёрных важны́ (žízni čórnyx važný)
• Spanish: las vidas negras importan

See also

• Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year
• Black liberation
• Black studies
• Black Power

References

• “black lives matter”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.