Black

The color name "Black" has been approved in accordance with the internal procedures of The Official Register of Color Names.

PROC-B VERIFIED 8 August 2026 · verification case ORCN-PROC-B-000000 (internal multi-source name verification procedure)

Record Validation Evidence: Color-Hex.com/Black
ColorHexa/Black
Encycolorpedia/Black
Wikipedia/Black

Also known as: Pure Black (Color-Name.com)

The word black comes from Old English blæc, from Proto-Germanic *blakkaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bhleg-, from base *bhel-, related to Old Saxon blak, Old High German blach, Old Norse blakkr, Dutch blaken, and Swedish bläck. More distant cognates include Latin flagrare, and Ancient Greek phlegein. The Ancient Greeks sometimes used the same word to name different colors, if they had the same intensity. Kuanos’ could mean both dark blue and black.

Old High German also had two words for black: swartz for dull black and blach for a luminous black. These are parallelled in Middle English by the terms swart for dull black and blaek for luminous black. Swart still survives as the word swarthy, while blaek became the modern English black. The former is cognate with the words used for black in most modern Germanic languages aside from English (German: schwarz, Dutch: zwart, Swedish: svart, Danish: sort, Icelandic: svartr). In heraldry, the word used for the black color is sable, named for the black fur of the sable, an animal.

The digital color #000000, known as "Black", is classified in the Register under the Greyscale Color Family, with Desaturated and Very Dark brightness. In numbers: rgb(0, 0, 0) (0% red, 0% green, 0% blue), or CMYK 0 / 0 / 0 / 100 for print. New to color codes? See our guide to RGB color codes.

The color #000000 reads as a quiet, subdued near-black and lives deep in the shadows. Designers typically reach for tones like this for moody backdrops, typography on light surfaces and premium packaging. In The Official Register of Color Names it is practically indistinguishable from Fashion Black (#060403). Nearby in the Register you will also find Nicalis Black (#080000) and Black Eyes (#0B0802).

Technically, #000000 is a perfectly balanced RGB mix — red, green and blue all sit at 0, which is what makes it a true neutral. On this background, white text reaches a 21.0:1 contrast ratio (passing WCAG AAA); black stays at 1.0:1. For print, note the heavy black component (K:100) — ink coverage matters with tones this deep. This precise shade carries the officially registered name "Black" in the Register.