# darkness
## English
### Alternative forms

* darckness (obsolete)
* darkeness (obsolete)
* darknesse (obsolete)
* darkenesse (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English derknesse, from Old English deorcnes; equivalent to dark +‎ -ness.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈdɑːknəs/
* (US) IPA: /ˈdɑɹknɪs/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)knɪs, -ɑː(ɹ)knəs
* Hyphenation: dark‧ness

### Noun

darkness (countable and uncountable, plural darknesses)
* (uncountable) The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light.
    The darkness of the room made it difficult to see.
** 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:Over everything was darkness and thick silence, and the smell of dust and sunflowers.
** 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
** 1989, “One”, performed by Metallica:Darkness imprisoning me All that I see Absolute horror I cannot live I cannot die Trapped in myself Body my holding cell
* (uncountable) The state or quality of reflecting little light, of tending to a blackish or brownish color.
    The darkness of her skin betrayed her Mediterranean heritage.
* (uncountable, countable) Any space that such colour pervades.
    Out of the darkness came some flickers of light.
* (uncountable) Gloom; gloominess; depression.
* (countable) The product of being dark.
* (uncountable) Lack of understanding or compassion; spiritual or mental blindness.
** 1984, 41:18 from the start, in Dune‎ (Science Fiction), spoken by Reverend Mother Ramallo, →OCLC:And now, the prophecy. One will come, the voice from the outer world, bringing the holy war, the jihad, which will cleanse the universe and bring us out of darkness.
* (uncountable) Secrecy; concealment.
* (uncountable) Lack of knowledge; obscurity or meaning or intelligibility; the unknown.
** 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 195:It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness.
* (uncountable) Nothingness, vanity, emptiness.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXIV, page 53:My own dim life should teach me this, ⁠That life shall live for evermore, ⁠Else earth is darkness at the core, And dust and ashes all that is; […]
* (uncountable) Hell.
** 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime:Shepard: Can you tell me anything about the beacon? Dr. Warren: It's some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network. Remarkably well-preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime! Dr. Warren: Miraculous new technologies. Groundbreaking medical advances. Who knows what secrets are locked inside? Dr. Manuel: We have unearthed the heart of evil. Awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness.

#### Synonyms

* dark (noun)

#### Antonyms

* lightness
* light

#### Hyponyms

* blackness

#### Derived terms

* act of darkness
* better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
* better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
* better to light one candle than to curse the darkness
* better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness
* crater of eternal darkness
* Egyptian darkness
* illicit darkness
* nymph of darkness
* pitch darkness
* predarkness
* semi-darkness, semidarkness
* under cover of darkness
* virtual darkness

#### Translations

Abkhaz: алашьцара (alašcara)
Albanian: terr (sq) m, errësirë (sq) f, mugëtirë (sq) f
Arabic: ظَلَام m (ẓalām), ظُلْمَة (ar) f (ẓulma), عَتَمَة f (ʕatama)
South Levantine Arabic: عتمة f (ʕatme)
Armenian: խավար (hy) (xavar), մթություն (hy) (mtʻutʻyun)
Aromanian: ãntunearic, ntunearic n, scutidi f
Asturian: escuridá (ast) f
Azerbaijani: qaranlıq (az), zülmət (az)
Belarusian: це́мра f (cjémra), змрок m (zmrok)
Bulgarian: мрак (bg) m (mrak), тъмнина (bg) f (tǎmnina)
Catalan: foscor (ca) f, obscuritat (ca) f
Cebuano: kangitngit
Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵍⵍⴰⵙⵜ f (tallast)
Cherokee: ᎤᎳᏏᎬᎢ (ulasigvi)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 黑暗 (zh) (hēi'àn)
Czech: tma (cs) f, temnota (cs) f
Danish: mørke (da)
Dutch: duisternis (nl) f, donkerheid (nl) f
Egyptian: (kkw m), (wḫ m), (snkt f)
Esperanto: mallumo (eo)
Estonian: pimedus
Ewe: viviti
Finnish: pimeys (fi)
French: obscurité (fr) f, ténèbres (fr) f pl, (dated) sombreur (fr), noirceur (fr) f
Galician: escuridade (gl) f, tebras (gl) f pl, mourén m, foscume m, escureza f, calixen f
Georgian: სიბნელე (sibnele), წყვდიადი (c̣q̇vdiadi), უკუნეთი (uḳuneti)
German: Dunkelheit (de) f, Finsternis (de) f
Gothic: 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐍃 n (riqis)
Greek: σκοτάδι (el) n (skotádi), έρεβος (el) n (érevos), ζόφος (el) m (zófos)
Ancient: σκότος m or n (skótos), ἔρεβος n (érebos), ζόφος m (zóphos), δνόφος m (dnóphos)
Haitian Creole: fènwa
Hebrew: אֲפֵלָה (he) f (afelá), חֹשֶׁךְ (he) m (ẖóshech), עֲלָטָה (he) f ('alatá) (literary)
Hindi: अंधेरा (hi) m (andherā), अन्धेरा (hi) m (andherā)
Hungarian: sötétség (hu)
Hunsrik: tunkelheet
Icelandic: myrkur (is) n, dimma (is) f, nifl (is) n, ljósleysa f
Ido: tenebro (io)
Indonesian: kegelapan (id)
Ingrian: pimmiä
Istriot: tienabre
Italian: buio (it) m, oscurità (it) f, tenebre (it) f pl
Japanese: 闇 (ja) (やみ, yami), 暗黒 (ja) (あんこく, ankoku)
Javanese: pepeteng
Kapampangan: kedalumduman
Kazakh: қараңғылық (qarañğylyq), түнек (tünek)
Khmer: ភាពងងឹត (pʰiep ŋɔŋɨt)
Konkani: काळोक (kāḷōka, literally “black realm”)
Korean: 암흑(暗黑) (ko) (amheuk), 어두움 (어둠) (eoduum (eodum))
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: تاریکی (tarîkî)
Northern Kurdish: tarîtî (ku) f
Latgalian: timss m, tymsums m
Latin: tenebrae (la) f pl, caligo f, obscuritas f, nox (la)
Latvian: tumsa f
Lithuanian: tamsa (lt) f
Lombard: scur (lmo)
Luxembourgish: Däischtert (lb) f, Donkelheet (lb) f
Macedonian: темнина f (temnina), мрак m (mrak)
Malagasy: ny maìzina (mg)
Malay: kegelapan (ms)
Malayalam: ഇരുട്ട് (ml) (iruṭṭŭ)
Maltese: dlam
Maori: hinapouri, taipouri, whēuriuri
Marathi: अंधार (andhār), काळोख m (kāḷokh)
Middle English: derknesse
Mongolian: харанхуй (mn) (xaranxuj)
Mwani: kisi
Navajo: chahałheeł
Ngazidja Comorian: hidza class 7
Northern Sami: seavdnjat, seavdnjadas
Norwegian:
Bokmål: mørke n
Nynorsk: mørker n, mørke n
Occitan: foscor (oc) f, escuritat (oc)
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: тьма f (tĭma)
Old English: þīestru f
Oromo: dukkana
Persian: تیرگی (fa) (tiregi), تاریکی (fa) (târiki)
Polish: ciemność (pl) f, mrok (pl) m
Portuguese: escuridão (pt) f, trevas (pt) f pl, obscuridade (pt) f
Punjabi:
Shahmukhi: ہَنیر m (haner), ہَنیرا m (hanerā)
Quechua: laqha
Romagnol: bur
Romanian: întuneric (ro), întunecime (ro) f
Russian: темнота́ (ru) f (temnotá), тьма (ru) f (tʹma), мрак (ru) m (mrak), потёмки (ru) f pl (potjómki)
Sanskrit: रजस् (sa) n (rajas), ध्वान्त (sa) n (dhvānta), अन्धकार (sa) n (andhakāra), तमस् (sa) n (tamas)
Scottish Gaelic: dubhar m, dorchadas m, dubh (gd) m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тама f
Roman: tama (sh) f, tamnoća, mračnina, mračnost (sh)
Slovak: tma (sk) f, temnota f
Slovene: tema (sl) f
Somali: mugddi
Spanish: oscuridad (es) f
Sranan Tongo: dungru
Sumerian: 𒂿 (/⁠etutum⁠/), 𒋯 (/⁠gansis⁠/), 𒌖 (/⁠itima⁠/), 𒀯𒅊 (/⁠mulsig⁠/), 𒍪𒈬𒊌 (/⁠sumug⁠/), 𒌓𒄷𒄭 (/⁠udmud⁠/)
Swedish: mörker (sv) n
Tagalog: kadiliman
Tamil: இருள் (ta) (iruḷ)
Tarifit: taǧǧest f
Telugu: చీకటి (te) (cīkaṭi), అంధకారము (te) (andhakāramu)
Thai: ความมืด (th) (kwaam mêut)
Tibetan: མུན་པ (mun pa)
Tocharian B: orkamo
Tok Pisin: tudak (tpi)
Turkish: karanlık (tr)
Udi: беъиънкъ (be̱i̱nq̇), байинкъ (bajinq̇)
Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎄𐎂𐎚 (mdgt)
Ukrainian: те́мрява (uk) f (témrjava), тьма́ f (tʹmá), мо́рок m (mórok), темно́та f (temnóta), темнота́ f (temnotá)
Urdu: اندھیرا m (andherā)
Uzbek: qorongʻilik (uz)
Vietnamese: bóng tối (vi)
Welsh: tywyllwch (cy)
West Frisian: tsjusternis
Yámana: akuš
Yiddish: פֿינצטערניש f or n (fintsternish)
Yoruba: òkùnkùn
Zazaki: tarı :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Anagrams

* Danskers