黑乎乎 (hēi hū hū) — pitch-black, dark and gloomy

Definition

A vivid colloquial adjective for something thoroughly dark or covered in grime — more descriptive than plain 黑. Often reduplicated in tone or paired with 的 to modify a noun.

adjective

pitch-blackdark and gloomy

Examples

黑乎乎，。
Wū zi lǐ hēi hū hū de, shén me yě kàn bú jiàn.
The room was pitch-black, couldn't see anything.
黑乎乎，。
Nà zhī māo quán shēn hēi hū hū de, tè bié kě ài.
That cat was all pitch-black, very cute.
黑乎乎，。
Yuǎn chù hēi hū hū de yí piàn, hǎo xiàng shì sēn lín.
In the distance a dark area, seemed like a forest.

Origin

Derived word

构词法gòucífǎ

后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

黑hēiblack

乎乎vivid state

乎hūvivid state乎hūvivid state

黑 gives black, 乎乎 gives a vivid state; together they mean pitch-black.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Open 黑 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

丂丂kǎobranch

The old 乎 paired an element for wind or air with 丂, a branch used as a sound part, and was the original form of the word for 'to call; to cry'.

Open 乎 →