Etymology 1
More information Alternative spelling ...
Close
⟨kuro1⟩ → /kuro/
From Old Japanese (see 黒い (kuroi) for more); in turn, from Proto-Japonic *kuro.
Via root morpheme *kur, cognates include:
- 涅 (kuri, “black mud from the bed of a body of water”)[1]
- 暗 (kura, “darkness; deception”), 蔵, 倉, 庫 (kura, “[dark] storehouse”), and 暗い (kurai, “dark”)
- classical verb 暮る (kuru), modern 暮れる (kureru, “to become dark; to near the end [of a day, of a year, of a life”), and 暗れる, 眩れる (kureru, “to become depressed, to become dreary of mood”)
Possibly also cognate with Ainu kur (“shadow”) and Korean 구름 (gureum, “cloud”); compare also Japanese 雲 (kumo, “cloud”), Korean 검— (geom-, “black”), and Ainu kunne (“black; dark”).
Noun
くろ • (kuro)
- black (color)
- Antonym: 白 (shiro)
- (go) a black stone; the person who plays black stones
- Synonym: 先手 (sente)
- a 女房詞 (nyōbō kotoba, “woman's word”) for 鍋 (nabe, “pot, pan”) or 釜 (kama, “pot, kettle”)
- (accounting) short for 黒字 (kuroji): black as an accounting term, indicating a profit
- (euphemistic) short for 黒幕 (kuromaku): a black curtain (someone influencing or controlling matters from behind the scenes)
- guilt; the guilty one, the guilty party
- Synonym: 有罪 (yūzai, “guilt”)
- Antonym: 白 (shiro, “innocence”)
- (slang) anarchy as a belief system or philosophy
- Synonym: 無政府主義 (museifu shugi)
- (slang) an anarchist
- Synonym: 無政府主義者 (museifu shugi-sha)
Derived terms
Derived terms
- 黒黒, 黒々 (kuroguro)
- 黒い (kuroi, “black”, adjective)
- 黒み (kuromi, “blackness, black tinge”)
- 黒め (kurome)
- 黒和え, 黒韲え (kuro-ae)
- 玄人 (kurōto)
- 黒柏 (kuro kashiwa), 黒柏鶏 (kuro kashiwa-kei)
- 黒金, 鉄 (kurogane, “iron”)
- 黒髪 (kurokami)
- 黒川, 黒河 (kurokawa)
- 黒子, 黒衣 (kurogo)
- 黒字 (kuroji)
- 黒田 (kurota)
- 黒田 (Kuroda)
- 黒垂 (kurotare)
- 黒鶫 (kurotsugumi)
- 黒貂 (kuroten)
- 黒塗, 黒塗り (kuro-nuri)
- 黒猫 (kuroneko, “black cat”)
- 黒檜 (kurobi), 黒檜 (kurobe)
- 黒っぽい (kuroppoi, “blackish, dark”)
- 黒豚 (kurobuta, “Berkshire pig”)
- 黒幕 (kuromaku)
- 黒丸, 黒円 (kuromaru)
- 黒布, 黒海布, 黒菜 (kurome)
- 黒目, 黒眼 (kurome)
- 黒焼, 黒焼き (kuroyaki)
- 黒枠, 黒框 (kurowaku)
- 黒ん坊 (kuronbō): a deeply tanned person; (derogatory) a black person; a stagehand wearing black or dark clothing; a monk wearing black clothing; rotten black seeds, particularly grain that has rotted on the stalk
- 白黒 (shirakura, “this and that, so-and-so, such-and-such: unspecified items brought up for criticism”)
- 白黒 (shirokuro, “black and white; monochrome; panic or startled state; confusion; sex show”)
- 中黒 (nakaguro)
- 黒子 (hahakuso), 黒子 (hokuro, “mole”)
- 髭黒 (higekuro)
Related terms
- 盲 (mekura, “blindness”)
- 涅 (kuri, “black mud from the bed of a body of water”)
- 呉 (kure): (obsolete) China (from sense of "where the sun sets")
- 暗 (kura, “darkness; deception, fraud”)
- 暗がり (kuragari): darkness
- 蔵, 倉, 庫 (kura, “(dark) storehouse”)
- 暗い (kurai, “dark”)
- 暮れる (kureru, “to become dark; to near the end (of a day, of a year, of a life)”)
- 暗れる, 眩れる (kureru, “to become depressed, to become dreary of mood”)
- 晦ます (kuramasu, “to conceal oneself, to abscond; to deceive, to fool”)
- 冥き途 (kurakimichi, “underworld, realm of the dead”)
- 暮れ六つ (kuremutsu): Edo-period term for a time of day, roughly 6 pm
- 暮れ方 (kuregata, “evening, sunset, nightfall”)
- 暮れ泥む (kurenazumu, “to grow dark slowly”)
See also
Colors in Japanese · 色 (iro) (layout · text)
白 (shiro) |
灰色 (haiiro), 鼠色 (nezumiiro) (dated) |
黒 (kuro) |
赤 (aka); 深紅 (shinku), クリムゾン (kurimuzon), 紅色 (beniiro), 紅色 (kurenaiiro), 茜色 (akaneiro) |
オレンジ (orenji), 橙色 (daidaiiro); 茶色 (chairo), 褐色 (kasshoku) |
黄色 (kiiro); クリーム色 (kurīmuiro) |
黄緑 (kimidori) |
緑 (midori), 青 (ao) (dated) |
若緑 (wakamidori) |
シアン (shian); 鴨の羽色 (kamo no hane iro) |
水色 (mizuiro) |
青 (ao) |
菫色 (sumireiro); 藍色 (aiiro), インジゴ (injigo) |
マゼンタ (mazenta), 赤紫 (akamurasaki); 紫 (murasaki) |
ピンク (pinku), 桃色 (momoiro) |
Etymology 2
More information Alternative spellings ...
Close
First attested in a text from 810, but only where 畦 is glossed as クロ. The first actual phonetic attestation is in the Wamyō Ruijushō (934), as 久路.
Pronunciation
- Historical evolution of the Kyoto pitch accent
※ H for high and flat syllables (◌́), L for low and flat syllables (◌̀), F for high-to-low syllables (◌̂), R for low-to-high syllables (◌̌).
※ References:
[3]
Etymology 3
Attested in the Butsurui Shōko (1775).
Unknown. Possibly a dialectal form of 蟋蟀 (kōrogi, “cricket”), but no sources support this.
Etymology 4
Unknown. Possibly contractions of different words.
References
Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN