English: black	On-Yomi: コク	Kun-Yomi: くろ くろ.ずむ くろ.い

Bushu (Radical) Info: 黒 (くろ) – black

Henshall Mnemonic: ground in burnt field is black

Levels: JLPT N4 | JLPT 3 (old) | Grade 2
Frequency: #573 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).
Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N5 Words

• 黒   [くろ]
  (n) (1) black; (2) dark   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒い   [くろい]
  (adj) (1) black; (2) dark   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

• 黒板   [こくばん]
  (n) blackboard   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 真っ黒   [まっくろ]
  (adj-na,n) pitch black   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 黒字   [くろじ]
  (n) balance (figure) in the black   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 黒子   [くろこ]
  (n) prompter; stagehand; black figures   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒子   [ほくろ]
  (n) dark mole; face mole; beauty spot; mite   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 白黒   [しろくろ]
  (adj-no,n) black and white   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒色   [こくしょく]
  (n) black colour   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒人   [こくじん]
  (n) black person   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒星   [くろぼし]
  (n) black spot; black dot; bull's-eye; failure   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒潮   [くろしお]
  (n) Japan Current   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒白   [くろしろ]
  (n) black and white; right and wrong   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒幕   [くろまく]
  (n) black curtain; wire puller; political fixer   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒木   [くろき]
  (n) unbarked lumber   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 浅黒い   [あさぐろい]
  (adj) darkish; swarthy   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 漆黒   [しっこく]
  (n) jet black   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 暗黒   [あんこく]
  (adj-na,n) darkness   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 大黒柱   [だいこくばしら]
  (n) central pillar; mainstay   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒い霧   [くろいきり]
  (n) thick fog   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒っぽい   [くろっぽい]
  (adj) dark; blackish   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒衣   [こくい]
  (n) black clothes   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒煙   [くろけむり]
  (n) black smoke   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒鉛   [こくえん]
  (n) graphite   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 黒海   [こっかい]
  Black Sea   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 黒 at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC
or download a PDF version of this information sheet

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.