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The most authentic Chinese words and phrases: 黑hēi (black)

In the Chinese language, “黑色hēi sè” means the exact color of black, or refer to dark situation. Also you can put some nouns after “黑”, for example, “板bǎn” refers to the board, you may guess the meaning of “黑板”, it is the blackboard. And “night” in Chinese is “夜yè”, so “黑夜” just describes the dark and deep night.

However, if you put “马mǎ(horse)” after it, “黑马” doesn’t simply stand for physical black horse, it also connotes that it is an unexpected win or good tendency just like English. In the similar way, “黑车hēi chē” (black car) also represents “unlicensed cab”. In ancient China, there was a man called Bao Gong, he was a judge, and he was very just, and did a lot of things for the people. And people respect and trust him very much. As he had a black skin, so people called him “黑脸包公hēi liǎn bāo ?ōn?” (“脸” in Chinese means “face”). Even today, Chinese people still call just and impartial official “hēi liǎn bāo gōng”.

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