Black

Common Connotations

Darkness, secrecy, power, nubian, mystery; silence and concealment; death(including execution) and bereavement; fear, antagonist, strong, (with orange) Halloween: end, chaos, and lack; evil, bad luck, and crime; conversely, elegance, anarchy, Rebellion, non-conformity, Individuality, Solidarity

Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light. Although black is sometimes described as an achromatic, or hueless, color, in practice it can be considered a color, as in expressions like "black cat" or "black paint."

Beliefs, religions and superstitions

Black is a symbol of mourning and bereavement in Western societies, especially at funerals and memorial services. In some traditional societies, within for example Greece and Italy, widows wear black for the rest of their lives. In contrast, across much of Africa and parts of Asia, white is a color of mourning and is worn during funerals.

In English heraldry, black means darkness, doubt, ignorance, and uncertainty.

In the Maasai tribes of Kenya and Tanzania, the color black is associated with rain clouds, a symbol of life and prosperity.

Native Americans associated black with the life-giving soil

The Hindu deity Krishna means "the black one"

The medieval Christian sect known as the Cathars viewed black as a color of perfection.

The Rastafari movement sees black as beautiful

In the Japanese culture, Black is associated with honor, not death with the white color being associated with death.

Black-dog bias is a veterinarian and animal shelter phenonmenon in which black dogs are passed over for adoption in favor of lighter colored animals.

Black cats may be thought of as either good luck or bad.

Economy

To say one's accounts are "in the black" is used to mean that one is or "no longer in the red", or free of debt.

Being "in the red" is to be in debt-in traditional bookkeeping, negative amounts, such as costs, were printed in red ink, and positive amounts, like revenues, were printed in black ink, so that if the "bottom line" is printed in black, the firm is profiting.

Fashion

In Western fashion, black is considered stylish, sexy, elegant and powerful.

The colloquialism "X is the new black" is a reference to the latest trend or fad that is considered a wardrobe basic for the druation of the trend, on the basis that black is always fashionable. The pahrase has taken on a life of its own as a snowclone, and has been stretched and parodied as a rhetorical device and a cliche'.