Meaning of 黑夜
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- night
How to use 黑夜
黑夜 is a slightly literary word for night as a time of darkness, often contrasted with 白天 (báitiān, daytime). In everyday talk people more often say 晚上 (wǎnshang) or 夜里 (yèlǐ). Example: 黑夜过去了，天亮了。(Hēiyè guòqù le, tiān liàng le.) The night has passed, and it is getting light.
黑夜 is simply 黑 (hēi, black) plus 夜 (yè, night). A black night is the dark part of the day, when the sky has no light.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes use 黑夜 for ordinary plans, like 黑夜我去看电影, which sounds odd. For 'this evening' or 'at night' in daily life, use 晚上 (wǎnshang), and save 黑夜 for describing darkness or for writing.
黑夜 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
黑 hēi · black · 12 strokes
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夜 yè · night · 8 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 黑夜.
| 黑色 | hēisè | black |
| 半夜 | bànyè | midnight; in the middle of the night |
| 夜里 | yèlǐ | during the night; at night |
| 黑板 | hēibǎn | blackboard |
| 黑暗 | hēi'àn | dark; darkly |
| 夜间 | yèjiān | nighttime; evening or night (e.g. classes) |
| 日夜 | rìyè | day and night; around the clock |
| 开夜车 | kāi yèchē | to burn the midnight oil; to work late into the night |
| 夜晚 | yèwǎn | night |
| 夜总会 | yèzǒnghuì | nightclub; nightspot |
| 黑客 | hēikè | (computing) (loanword) hacker |
| 深夜 | shēnyè | very late at night |
Questions about 黑夜
What does 黑夜 mean?
黑夜 (hēiyè) means "night" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 黑夜?
黑夜 is made of 2 characters: 黑 (12 strokes), 夜 (8 strokes). That is 20 strokes in total.
Is 黑夜 an HSK word?
Yes. 黑夜 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 黑夜 and 晚上?
晚上 (wǎnshang) is the everyday word for evening or night and is used for schedules and plans. 黑夜 focuses on the darkness of night and is more common in stories, songs and poetry.
What does the phrase 白天黑夜 mean?
白天黑夜 (báitiān hēiyè) means day and night, often in the sense of all the time. For example, 他白天黑夜地工作 (tā báitiān hēiyè de gōngzuò) means he works day and night.