blæc
/blæk/
Black in Old English is blæc, and sweart is another word for black or dark. If unsure, use blæc.
Meaning: absorbing all light (adj)
Ways to say it
| Old English | IPA |
|---|---|
| blæc | /blæk/ /æːt͡ʃ/ |
| sweart | /swæ͜ɑrt/ |
blæc describes something black in color, such as a cat or a person's hair.
Which one should you use?
blæc is the direct ancestor of the modern English word black. sweart often suggests dark, dusky or swarthy and it is related to the modern word swarthy.
How does it change in a sentence?
As an adjective, blæc takes endings that agree with the noun it describes, as in blaces. sweart changes in the same way, as in swarta.
How do you pronounce it?
blæc is pronounced /blæk/, much like modern black.
Did you know?
- The Old English word blæc is a distant relative of the modern English word 'bleach'. Both come from a root meaning 'to shine' or 'to burn', describing the color of something scorched by fire.
Examples in context
- Se catt is blæc.The cat is black.blæc comes after is, just as in modern English.Tatoeba #1346842 by SuleimanArkhyz, translation #1107280 by CK
- Caedmon's metrical paraphrase
…And ǣrest āmet ufan tō grunde and hū sīd sē swarta ēðm sēo.…And first measure from above to its ground, how wide the black vapour is.swarta is an inflected form of the second word for black, describing the vapour. - Wonders of the East
Þǣr beoð akende ǣmættan swā miċle swā hundas. Hī habbað fēt swylċe græshoppan, hī syndon rēades hīwes ⁊ blaces. Þā ǣmettan delfað gold up of eorðan fram foran nihte ōþ þa fīftan tīd dæġes.Ants are born there as big as dogs. They have feet like grasshoppers, and are red and black in color. The ants dig gold up from the earth from before the night until the fifth hour of the day.blaces is an inflected form of the adjective, here with rēades, red. - 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
A woman and a man look at a dark raven.
- ÆthelflædBlæc is se fugel.The bird is black.
- ÆthelstanGēa, sē is swīðe blæc.Yes, it is very black.
- ÆthelflædHē is swā swart swā niht.He is as black as night.
- ÆthelstanSē fugel is wundorlice blæc.The bird is wonderfully black.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “black” translations and entries blæc, sweart, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries blæc, sweart, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR, Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
