Meaning

noun the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

noun total absence of light

noun British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)

originEtymology tree Proto-Germanic *blakaz Proto-West Germanic *blak Old English blæc Middle English blak English black From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”). See also Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0