Chinese word

黑白

Pronunciation

Pinyinhēi bái

Meaning

  • adjectiveblack-and-white

Example

他喜欢看黑白电影。tā xǐ huān kàn hēi bái diàn yǐng

He likes watching black-and-white movies.

Illustration for 黑白 (black-and-white)

More examples

这幅画用黑白对比表现了强烈的情感。zhè fú huà yòng hēi bái duì bǐ biǎo xiàn le qiáng liè de qíng gǎn

This painting uses black-and-white contrast to express intense emotion.

Core concept

Two sharply separated sides rather than a continuous range, seen in colors or in judgments of right and wrong.

Common phrases

  • 黑白条纹hēi bái tiáo wén

    black-and-white stripes

  • 黑白对比hēi bái duì bǐ

    black-and-white contrast

  • 黑白相间hēi bái xiāng jiàn

    alternating black and white

Similar words

彩色cǎi sè: Having a colorful appearance with a lively mix of different colors.

Definition in Chinese

表示只有黑色和白色或主要以黑白两色呈现的颜色或影像状态。biǎo shì zhí yǒu hēi sè hé bái sè huò zhǔ yào yǐ hēi bái liǎng sè chéng xiàn de yán sè huò yǐng xiàng zhuàng tài

Word origin

黑 (hēi, "black") + 白 (bái, "white") joins opposite color terms into a label for a two-sided contrast, which naturally extends to absolute judgments.

Usage tips

  • As an adjective, it normally comes directly before the noun it modifies, following the usual Chinese pattern for descriptive words.

Other meanings

  • right and wrongnoun

Opposites

Related words

  • 黑白相间hēi bái xiāng jiànalternating black and whiteadjective
  • 黑白对比hēi bái duì bǐblack-and-white contrastnoun

Word lists with this word