"black man" meaning in English

See black man in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: black men [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~|black men}} black man (countable and uncountable, plural black men)
  1. A male adult member of an ethnic group having dark pigmentation of the skin, typically of sub-Saharan African descent; or the appearance thereof. Tags: countable, uncountable Categories (topical): Ethnicity, Male people Synonyms: person of color
    Sense id: en-black_man-en-noun-YYN87ULq Disambiguation of Ethnicity: 59 16 10 2 14 Disambiguation of Male people: 55 22 7 2 14
  2. (usually with the, dated) Black men or black people collectively; black culture. Tags: countable, dated, uncountable, usually
    Sense id: en-black_man-en-noun-XPJINtpf Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 46 1 2 15
  3. (now rare) An evil spirit, the bogeyman, a demon. Tags: archaic, countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-black_man-en-noun-ISgsaJyL
  4. (uncountable, now rare) A German-derived game of tag, in which the tagging player is called the "black man". Tags: archaic, uncountable
    Sense id: en-black_man-en-noun-6fQkyPBy
  5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, man. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: Black man (english: member of ethnic group), blackman [nonstandard] Coordinate_terms: white man
    Sense id: en-black_man-en-noun-TwK0Zc7I

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for black man meaning in English (5.9kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "black men",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~",
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      "expansion": "black man (countable and uncountable, plural black men)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 16 10 2 14",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Ethnicity",
          "orig": "en:Ethnicity",
          "parents": [
            "People",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 22 7 2 14",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Male people",
          "orig": "en:Male people",
          "parents": [
            "Male",
            "People",
            "Gender",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: black woman"
        },
        {
          "text": "I saw a black man with a dog and a white man on a bicycle.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A male adult member of an ethnic group having dark pigmentation of the skin, typically of sub-Saharan African descent; or the appearance thereof."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_man-en-noun-YYN87ULq",
      "links": [
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          "sub-Saharan Africa"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "person of color"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "36 46 1 2 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The state's policy of \"separate but equal\" was really about keeping the black man down.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1873, Mary C Wilson, “Testimonies: Claims of Woman”, in Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, page 16",
          "text": "We know how bitter was the contest which freed at once the black man from an enforced subordination and the white master from the moral and spiritual degradation which were inseparable from the unnatural relation in which he stood.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Irvine Belinda Robnett, quoting Victoria Black, How Long? How Long? : African-American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights, page 41",
          "text": "Any time there is an opportunity for the Black man in the community to be in that leadership role, the community wants him there.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Alfred A. Davis, Black Man Made in the U. S. A., page 77",
          "text": "Ever since the Black man was accepted in professional sports, the game quality has constantly risen to new heights",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Black men or black people collectively; black culture."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_man-en-noun-XPJINtpf",
      "links": [
        [
          "the",
          "the"
        ],
        [
          "Black",
          "black"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(usually with the, dated) Black men or black people collectively; black culture."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with the"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "dated",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1624, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, volume I, New York Review Books, published 2001, page 387",
          "text": "[H]e suspects everything he hears and sees to be a devil, or enchanted, and imagineth a thousand chimeras and visions, which to his thinking he certainly sees, bugbears, talks with black men, ghosts, goblins, etc.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An evil spirit, the bogeyman, a demon."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_man-en-noun-ISgsaJyL",
      "links": [
        [
          "evil",
          "evil"
        ],
        [
          "bogeyman",
          "bogeyman"
        ],
        [
          "demon",
          "demon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now rare) An evil spirit, the bogeyman, a demon."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1914, James Baldwin, In My Youth: From the Posthumous Papers of Robert Dudley, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, published 1914, page 343",
          "text": "The one known as \"black man\" was particularly interesting. It was no doubt as ancient as civilization, and was simply a drama without words wherein one of the children assumed the part of the Old Feller and proceeded to harry and capture the other players who must run from one \"base\" to the next to escape him. Those whom he caught became his allies and were obliged to assist him in his nefarious warfare.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1929, The Trident of Delta Delta Delta, volume 38, number 3, page 409",
          "text": "[…] played black man and one-two-three on the cobbled streets!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Daniel Fitzgerald, Faded Dreams: More Ghost Towns of Kansas, page 149",
          "text": "[…] played “black man” and \"run sheep run,\" ate sack lunches, and rushed home after school to bring in the cows […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A German-derived game of tag, in which the tagging player is called the \"black man\"."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_man-en-noun-6fQkyPBy",
      "links": [
        [
          "tag",
          "tag"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, now rare) A German-derived game of tag, in which the tagging player is called the \"black man\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "16 27 0 21 36",
          "word": "white man"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1883, Henry Richter, Chess Simplified!, page 4",
          "text": "The white men are always put on that side of the board which commences by row 1, and the black men are placed opposite.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908, The Chess Amateur, volume 2, page 39",
          "text": "We will suppose that you are the player of the white men, and that your opponent[,] the player of the black men[,] is sitting opposite to you, ready for battle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, man."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_man-en-noun-TwK0Zc7I",
      "links": [
        [
          "black",
          "black#English"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "16 27 0 21 36",
          "english": "member of ethnic group",
          "word": "Black man"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "16 27 0 21 36",
          "tags": [
            "nonstandard"
          ],
          "word": "blackman"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "black man"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "en:Ethnicity",
    "en:Male people"
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  "coordinate_terms": [
    {
      "word": "white man"
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "black men",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "~",
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: black woman"
        },
        {
          "text": "I saw a black man with a dog and a white man on a bicycle.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A male adult member of an ethnic group having dark pigmentation of the skin, typically of sub-Saharan African descent; or the appearance thereof."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ethnic group",
          "ethnic group"
        ],
        [
          "pigmentation",
          "pigmentation"
        ],
        [
          "sub-Saharan Africa",
          "sub-Saharan Africa"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "person of color"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The state's policy of \"separate but equal\" was really about keeping the black man down.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1873, Mary C Wilson, “Testimonies: Claims of Woman”, in Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, page 16",
          "text": "We know how bitter was the contest which freed at once the black man from an enforced subordination and the white master from the moral and spiritual degradation which were inseparable from the unnatural relation in which he stood.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Irvine Belinda Robnett, quoting Victoria Black, How Long? How Long? : African-American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights, page 41",
          "text": "Any time there is an opportunity for the Black man in the community to be in that leadership role, the community wants him there.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Alfred A. Davis, Black Man Made in the U. S. A., page 77",
          "text": "Ever since the Black man was accepted in professional sports, the game quality has constantly risen to new heights",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Black men or black people collectively; black culture."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "the",
          "the"
        ],
        [
          "Black",
          "black"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(usually with the, dated) Black men or black people collectively; black culture."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with the"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "dated",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1624, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, volume I, New York Review Books, published 2001, page 387",
          "text": "[H]e suspects everything he hears and sees to be a devil, or enchanted, and imagineth a thousand chimeras and visions, which to his thinking he certainly sees, bugbears, talks with black men, ghosts, goblins, etc.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An evil spirit, the bogeyman, a demon."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "evil",
          "evil"
        ],
        [
          "bogeyman",
          "bogeyman"
        ],
        [
          "demon",
          "demon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now rare) An evil spirit, the bogeyman, a demon."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses",
        "English uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1914, James Baldwin, In My Youth: From the Posthumous Papers of Robert Dudley, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, published 1914, page 343",
          "text": "The one known as \"black man\" was particularly interesting. It was no doubt as ancient as civilization, and was simply a drama without words wherein one of the children assumed the part of the Old Feller and proceeded to harry and capture the other players who must run from one \"base\" to the next to escape him. Those whom he caught became his allies and were obliged to assist him in his nefarious warfare.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1929, The Trident of Delta Delta Delta, volume 38, number 3, page 409",
          "text": "[…] played black man and one-two-three on the cobbled streets!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Daniel Fitzgerald, Faded Dreams: More Ghost Towns of Kansas, page 149",
          "text": "[…] played “black man” and \"run sheep run,\" ate sack lunches, and rushed home after school to bring in the cows […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A German-derived game of tag, in which the tagging player is called the \"black man\"."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tag",
          "tag"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, now rare) A German-derived game of tag, in which the tagging player is called the \"black man\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1883, Henry Richter, Chess Simplified!, page 4",
          "text": "The white men are always put on that side of the board which commences by row 1, and the black men are placed opposite.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908, The Chess Amateur, volume 2, page 39",
          "text": "We will suppose that you are the player of the white men, and that your opponent[,] the player of the black men[,] is sitting opposite to you, ready for battle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, man."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "black",
          "black#English"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "english": "member of ethnic group",
      "word": "Black man"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "nonstandard"
      ],
      "word": "blackman"
    }
  ],
  "word": "black man"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.