French Conversation · Level 11
89 words
French word
noir
Pronunciation
IPA/nwaʁ/
Meaning
- adjectiveblack
Example
Le chat est noir.
The cat is black.
More examples
J'ai mis une robe noire pour la soirée.
I wore a black dress for the evening.
Core concept
An almost absolute black covers an object or scene, extending naturally to ideas of obscurity and seriousness.
Common phrases
une robe noire
a black dress
un café noir
black coffee
une chemise noire
a black shirt
Similar words
foncé: Deep and muted in color rather than bright.
sombre: Dark in appearance because of limited light and heavy shadows.
Definition in French
Couleur très sombre, proche du noir absolu, employée au sens propre pour une teinte et au sens figuré pour exprimer l'obscurité ou la gravité.
Word origin
Noir comes through the Old French form neir from Latin niger, with the spelling changing during the word's historical development.
Usage tips
- Noir agrees with a masculine singular noun, while noire agrees with a feminine singular noun; the plural forms are noirs and noires.