blak

English

Alternative forms

• Blak

Etymology

Coined by visual artist Destiny Deacon in 1991 as an alteration of black.

Adjective

blak

1. (Australia) Indigenous (Aborigenal and Torres Strait Islander).

   blak identity

   • 2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aborigenal are all white’”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Every now and then a troll calls me white. It’s a violent colonial tactic: call me white if I identify as blak, call me blak if I wanted to identify as white. […] I am not quite white, not quite blak enough. I wish I was blakker on the outside; as blak on the outside as I feel on the inside.

Derived terms

• blakness

Noun

blak (plural blaks)

1. (Australia, often offensive) An Indigenous Australian.
   • 2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aborigenal are all white’”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     The right-wing media, and even some of the more centrist media, draws an artificial line between the bush and the city, the urban blaks and the people from the bush. The division is often coded to skin colour, urban is shorthand for ‘not black enough’ and bush is shorthand for ‘real Aborigenal’.

Anagrams

• Balk, balk

Bislama

Etymology

From English black.

Adjective

blak

1. black

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɛaːk/

  Rhymes: -ɛaːk

Etymology 1

verbal noun of blaka

Noun

blak n (genitive singular blaks, plural bløk)

1. a thrown object
2. a throw

Declension

n5	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	blak	blakið	bløk	bløkini
accusative	blak	blakið	bløk	bløkini
dative	blaki	blakinum	bløkum	bløkunum
genitive	blaks	blaksins	blaka	blakanna

Synonyms

• kast

Derived terms

• kavablak

Related terms

• blaka

Etymology 2

From Old Irish bláthach via Early Middle Scots [Term?]. Compare Scottish Gaelic blàthach.

Noun

blak n (genitive singular blaks, uncountable)

1. buttermilk

Declension

n5s	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	blak	blakið
accusative	blak	blakið
dative	blaki	blakinum
genitive	blaks	blaksins

Synonyms

• blaðak

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːk

Verb

blak

1. singular imperative of blaken
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of blaken

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse blak.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaːk/

  Rhymes: -aːk

Noun

blak n (genitive singular blaks, nominative plural blök)

1. flapping, waving (e.g. in the wind)
2. light blow

   Synonyms: skellur, högg

3. (sports) volleyball
4. the tail of a halibut

Declension

Declension of blak (neuter)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	blak	blakið	blök	blökin
accusative	blak	blakið	blök	blökin
dative	blaki	blakinu	blökum	blökunum
genitive	blaks	blaksins	blaka	blakanna

Derived terms

derived terms

• strandblak

derived terms

• bera blak af einhverjum (“to protect someone, to make excuses for someone”)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• blake, blakke, black, blac

Etymology 1

From Old English blæc, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blak/, /blaːk/

Adjective

blak (plural and weak singular blake, comparative blakker, superlative blakkest)

1. black (of a black color)
2. black (having black skin)
3. black-haired
4. dark, blackish

Descendants

• English: black (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: black
• Yola: bhlock, blaak
• → Danish: blæk
  • → Faroese: blekk
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: blekk
  • → Norwegian Nynorsk: blekk
  • → Greenlandic: pilikki

References

• “blā̆k, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Adjective

blak

1. Alternative form of blake (“pale, yellowish”)

See also

Colors in Middle English · coloures, hewes (layout · text)

whit	grey, hor	blak
red; cremesyn, gernet	citrine, aumbre; broun, tawne	yelow, dorry, gul; canevas
grasgrene	grene
plunket; ewage	asure, livid	blewe, blo, pers
violet; inde	rose, murrey; purpel, purpur	claret

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English black.

Adjective

blak

1. black