"black letter" meaning in English

See black letter in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: black letters [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} black letter (countable and uncountable, plural black letters)
  1. (calligraphy) A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.
    (typography) A Northern European style of type based on the script, with contrasting thick-and-thin, angular strokes forming upright letterforms, and usually set with a dark typographic colour on the page.
    Tags: countable, uncountable Categories (topical): Calligraphy, Typography Synonyms: Gothic Translations (a Northern-European style of type): frakturo (Esperanto), goottilainen kirjaintyyli (Finnish), fraktuura (Finnish), Fraktur (French), Bruchschrift [feminine] (German), gebrochene Schrift [feminine] (German), Fraktur [feminine] (German), gotische Schrift [feminine] (German), gót betű (Hungarian), gotyk [masculine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-black_letter-en-noun-en:typography Categories (other): Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 44 53 3 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 46 51 3 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 44 53 3 Topics: arts, calligraphy, communications, journalism, literature, media, publishing, typography, writing Disambiguation of 'a Northern-European style of type': 62 35 3
  2. (calligraphy) A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.
    Text set in black-letter type.
    Tags: countable, uncountable Categories (topical): Calligraphy Synonyms: blackletter, black-letter Hyponyms: Gothic, bastarda, fraktur, Old English, quadrata, rotunda, Schwabacher, textura Derived forms: black-letter law Coordinate_terms: Antiqua, whiteletter Translations (text set in black-letter type): Frakturtext [masculine] (German)
    Sense id: en-black_letter-en-noun-bZwn79L2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 32 64 4 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 18 79 3 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 33 59 8 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 32 66 2 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 41 56 3 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 44 53 3 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 30 65 5 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 33 61 6 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 46 51 3 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 44 53 3 Topics: arts, calligraphy, communications, journalism, literature, media, publishing, writing Disambiguation of 'text set in black-letter type': 8 92 1
  3. (law) The basic standard elements for a particular field of law, which are generally known and free from doubt or dispute. Tags: countable, uncountable Categories (topical): Law
    Sense id: en-black_letter-en-noun-INuZL~cs Topics: law

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "black letters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "black letter (countable and uncountable, plural black letters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Calligraphy",
          "orig": "en:Calligraphy",
          "parents": [
            "Art",
            "Writing",
            "Culture",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Language",
            "Society",
            "Human",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Typography",
          "orig": "en:Typography",
          "parents": [
            "Printing",
            "Writing",
            "Industries",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Language",
            "Business",
            "Human",
            "Communication",
            "Economics",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Sciences"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 53 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 51 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 53 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Also we discovered what is still more curious, an English version of the black-letter Latin.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (version 2.5), Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, →ISBN, page 103:",
          "text": "The original boldface printing types are the blackletters used by Gutenberg in the 1440s. For the next two centuries, blackletter fonts were widely used not only in Germany but in France, Spain, the Netherlands and Engand.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "A Northern European style of type based on the script, with contrasting thick-and-thin, angular strokes forming upright letterforms, and usually set with a dark typographic colour on the page."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_letter-en-noun-en:typography",
      "links": [
        [
          "calligraphy",
          "calligraphy"
        ],
        [
          "calligraphic",
          "calligraphic"
        ],
        [
          "Western European",
          "Western European"
        ],
        [
          "script",
          "script"
        ],
        [
          "typography",
          "typography"
        ],
        [
          "Northern European",
          "Northern European"
        ],
        [
          "type",
          "type"
        ],
        [
          "contrasting",
          "contrasting"
        ],
        [
          "stroke",
          "stroke"
        ],
        [
          "letterform",
          "letterform"
        ],
        [
          "set",
          "set"
        ],
        [
          "colour",
          "colour"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(calligraphy) A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "(typography) A Northern European style of type based on the script, with contrasting thick-and-thin, angular strokes forming upright letterforms, and usually set with a dark typographic colour on the page."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:typography"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Gothic"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "arts",
        "calligraphy",
        "communications",
        "journalism",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing",
        "typography",
        "writing"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "word": "frakturo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "word": "goottilainen kirjaintyyli"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "word": "fraktuura"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "word": "Fraktur"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Bruchschrift"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "gebrochene Schrift"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Fraktur"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "gotische Schrift"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "word": "gót betű"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 35 3",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "gotyk"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Calligraphy",
          "orig": "en:Calligraphy",
          "parents": [
            "Art",
            "Writing",
            "Culture",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Language",
            "Society",
            "Human",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 64 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 79 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "33 59 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 66 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 56 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 53 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 65 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "33 61 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 51 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 53 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "Antiqua"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "whiteletter"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "black-letter law"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "Text set in black-letter type."
      ],
      "hyponyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "Gothic"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "bastarda"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "fraktur"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "Old English"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "quadrata"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "rotunda"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "Schwabacher"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 84 0",
          "word": "textura"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-black_letter-en-noun-bZwn79L2",
      "links": [
        [
          "calligraphy",
          "calligraphy"
        ],
        [
          "calligraphic",
          "calligraphic"
        ],
        [
          "Western European",
          "Western European"
        ],
        [
          "script",
          "script"
        ],
        [
          "Text",
          "text"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(calligraphy) A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "Text set in black-letter type."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "24 76 0",
          "word": "blackletter"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "24 76 0",
          "word": "black-letter"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "arts",
        "calligraphy",
        "communications",
        "journalism",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing",
        "writing"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "text set in black-letter type",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Frakturtext"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Law",
          "orig": "en:Law",
          "parents": [
            "Justice",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020, Katharina Pistor, “5: Enclosing Nature's Code”, in The Code of Capital […] , Princeton University Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "[The US Supreme Court] did not raise the fundamental normative question of the patent-ability of genes. Instead, it took a black letter approach to interpreting the Patent Act, which had first been enacted in 1790, and which in its current form states that “whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The basic standard elements for a particular field of law, which are generally known and free from doubt or dispute."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_letter-en-noun-INuZL~cs",
      "links": [
        [
          "law",
          "law#English"
        ],
        [
          "basic",
          "basic"
        ],
        [
          "standard",
          "standard"
        ],
        [
          "element",
          "element"
        ],
        [
          "law",
          "law"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(law) The basic standard elements for a particular field of law, which are generally known and free from doubt or dispute."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "law"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Blackletter"
  ],
  "word": "black letter"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations"
  ],
  "coordinate_terms": [
    {
      "word": "Antiqua"
    },
    {
      "word": "whiteletter"
    }
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "black-letter law"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "black letters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "black letter (countable and uncountable, plural black letters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyponyms": [
    {
      "word": "Gothic"
    },
    {
      "word": "bastarda"
    },
    {
      "word": "fraktur"
    },
    {
      "word": "Old English"
    },
    {
      "word": "quadrata"
    },
    {
      "word": "rotunda"
    },
    {
      "word": "Schwabacher"
    },
    {
      "word": "textura"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Calligraphy",
        "en:Typography"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Also we discovered what is still more curious, an English version of the black-letter Latin.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (version 2.5), Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, →ISBN, page 103:",
          "text": "The original boldface printing types are the blackletters used by Gutenberg in the 1440s. For the next two centuries, blackletter fonts were widely used not only in Germany but in France, Spain, the Netherlands and Engand.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "A Northern European style of type based on the script, with contrasting thick-and-thin, angular strokes forming upright letterforms, and usually set with a dark typographic colour on the page."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "calligraphy",
          "calligraphy"
        ],
        [
          "calligraphic",
          "calligraphic"
        ],
        [
          "Western European",
          "Western European"
        ],
        [
          "script",
          "script"
        ],
        [
          "typography",
          "typography"
        ],
        [
          "Northern European",
          "Northern European"
        ],
        [
          "type",
          "type"
        ],
        [
          "contrasting",
          "contrasting"
        ],
        [
          "stroke",
          "stroke"
        ],
        [
          "letterform",
          "letterform"
        ],
        [
          "set",
          "set"
        ],
        [
          "colour",
          "colour"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(calligraphy) A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "(typography) A Northern European style of type based on the script, with contrasting thick-and-thin, angular strokes forming upright letterforms, and usually set with a dark typographic colour on the page."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:typography"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Gothic"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "arts",
        "calligraphy",
        "communications",
        "journalism",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing",
        "typography",
        "writing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Calligraphy"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "Text set in black-letter type."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "calligraphy",
          "calligraphy"
        ],
        [
          "calligraphic",
          "calligraphic"
        ],
        [
          "Western European",
          "Western European"
        ],
        [
          "script",
          "script"
        ],
        [
          "Text",
          "text"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(calligraphy) A highly calligraphic Western European script style used from approximately 1150.",
        "Text set in black-letter type."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "arts",
        "calligraphy",
        "communications",
        "journalism",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing",
        "writing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Law"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020, Katharina Pistor, “5: Enclosing Nature's Code”, in The Code of Capital […] , Princeton University Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "[The US Supreme Court] did not raise the fundamental normative question of the patent-ability of genes. Instead, it took a black letter approach to interpreting the Patent Act, which had first been enacted in 1790, and which in its current form states that “whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The basic standard elements for a particular field of law, which are generally known and free from doubt or dispute."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "law",
          "law#English"
        ],
        [
          "basic",
          "basic"
        ],
        [
          "standard",
          "standard"
        ],
        [
          "element",
          "element"
        ],
        [
          "law",
          "law"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(law) The basic standard elements for a particular field of law, which are generally known and free from doubt or dispute."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "law"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "blackletter"
    },
    {
      "word": "black-letter"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "word": "frakturo"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "word": "goottilainen kirjaintyyli"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "word": "fraktuura"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "word": "Fraktur"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Bruchschrift"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "gebrochene Schrift"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Fraktur"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "gotische Schrift"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "word": "gót betű"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "a Northern-European style of type",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "gotyk"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "text set in black-letter type",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Frakturtext"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Blackletter"
  ],
  "word": "black letter"
}

Download raw JSONL data for black letter meaning in English (6.1kB)

{
  "called_from": "linkages/371",
  "msg": "unrecognized linkage prefix: (typeface): Gothic, bastarda, fraktur, Old English, quadrata, rotunda, Schwabacher, textura desc=typeface rest=Gothic, bastarda, fraktur, Old English, quadrata, rotunda, Schwabacher, textura cls=romanization cls2=romanization e1=True e2=False",
  "path": [
    "black letter"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "black letter",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "linkages/371",
  "msg": "unrecognized linkage prefix: (typeface): Antiqua, whiteletter desc=typeface rest=Antiqua, whiteletter cls=romanization cls2=romanization e1=True e2=False",
  "path": [
    "black letter"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "black letter",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.