黑

黑 · hēi

black; dark; evil, sinister; Kangxi radical 203

Entry ↗

Meanings & readings

Meaning & readings

black; dark; evil, sinister; Kangxi radical 203

Mandarin
hēi
Cantonese
hak1

Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.

Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese

Readings recorded for 黑 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.

Japanese 日本語

Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.

On’yomi · katakana

コク

Kun’yomi · hiragana

くろくろい

Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property

コク くろ くろい

Korean 한국어

Hanja readings · Hangul

흑

Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.

Reading sources explained
흑
KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kHangul ↗ · provisional property

흑:0E

Vietnamese Tiếng Việt

Character readings · Quốc ngữ

hắc

Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kVietnamese ↗ · provisional property

hắc

Form & structure

Writing & identity

Unicode
U+9ED1
Radical
黑 · 203
Strokes
12 · Unihan
Residual
0

Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.

Stroke order

12 strokes
黑
Strokes
12
Convention
PRC · Make Me a Hanzi

12 strokes in writing order. Play to watch them, or Step through one at a time.

Modern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.

Graphical structure

⿱{68}灬(GHTJKPV)
How to read these symbols

⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.

BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.

Words & connections

Words using 黑

Character connections

6 catalogue records include this shape in their first retained IDS. Graphical containment does not imply shared etymology.

History & distinctions

Related forms

No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.

Historical readings

Middle Chinese
xok · 呼北 反切 · #3728

Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.

Source row & reading categories

CSV line 19498 · xok = 曾開一入登曉

Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗

Sources & reference

Evidence & next depth

Source editions & exact scope ↗
Retained Unihan properties
kMandarin
hēi
kCantonese
hak1
kDefinition
black; dark; evil, sinister; Kangxi radical 203
kTotalStrokes
12
kRSUnicode
203.0
kGradeLevel
1
kTGH
2013:2655

Readings across dictionaries

Hanyu Da Zidian
hēi 74743.010
Small numbers locate dictionary entries; 粵 introduces Cantonese. Includes rare or historical readings. Source notation ↗

Reference desk

Sentences in context

Find examples using 黑 ↗

The attributed sentence collection is still small; this spelling has no retained example yet.

Study this character

Structure & connections

0.10
383dictionary records using 黑18forms using this shape0attributed sound links

A complete parsed description is unavailable for this endpoint. It is not assumed to be an indivisible unit.

Decompose & trace ↗Browse all 383 word records ↗Explore sound families ↗Component search ↗
Retained descriptions & scope

^⿱{68}灬$(GHTJKPV) · preserved, not fully parsed

All alternatives are retained. Only the first description drives component search and graphical links. Counts describe this snapshot, not frequency. Evidence and method.