What does nero in Italian mean?

What is the meaning of the word nero in Italian? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use nero in Italian.

The word nero in Italian means black, grim, dismal, black, dark, black [market], illegal, grimy, dirty, sooty, filthy, black, black person, nefarious, inhuman, bad, evil, fascist, black-shirt, blind, black piece, black shirt, fascist, cash in hand, under the counter, black and white, black marketer, black hole, black coffee, black cabbage, there is as much difference as between black and white, lead sbd to believe the contrary of what is, be black as the ace of spades, represent untruthfully, the dark continent, in black and white, cash in hand, one says white and the other says black, work illegally, working under the table, illegal labour, black book, black market, put in writing, blackberry, black as coal, purple with rage, overcome by rage, blinded by rage, squid ink, in black and white, not tell black and white apart, black eye, black gold, pay under the table, black bread, black pepper, cesspit, ellipsis, blackhead, put down in black and white, black mirror, bad mood, bogeyman, see everything black. To learn more, please see the details below.

Listen to pronunciation

Meaning of the word nero

black

aggettivo (colore)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Queste scarpe nere sono davvero eleganti.
These black shoes are really smart.

grim, dismal, black, dark

aggettivo (figurato (nefasto, sfortunato)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Il futuro di questa compagnia è nero.
The future of this company is grim.

black [market], illegal

aggettivo (figurato (illegale) (trade)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Il lavoro nero è una piaga in questo paese.
Illegal labour is the scourge of this country.

grimy, dirty, sooty, filthy

aggettivo (figurato (lurido, sudicio)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Le tue mani sono nere dalla sporcizia.
Your hands are dirty (or: filthy).

black

sostantivo maschile (colore) (color)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il nero è un colore affascinante.
Black is a fascinating colour.

black person

(persona di pelle nera)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
In questo quartiere vivono soprattutto neri.
Mainly black people live in this neighbourhood.

nefarious, inhuman, bad, evil

aggettivo (crudele, malvagio)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Esiste una magia nera e una magia bianca.
There's black magic and white magic.

fascist, black-shirt

aggettivo (del fascismo, di estrema destra)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
La strage fu attribuita al terrorismo nero.
The killings were attributed to black-shirt terrorism.

blind

aggettivo (figurato, informale (arrabbiato) (figurative)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Gianluca è nero dalla rabbia.
Gianluca's blind with rage.

black piece

sostantivo maschile (giochi da tavolo: pezzi) (board games)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Io giocherò con i neri e tu con i bianchi.
I will play with the black pieces and you with the white ones.

black shirt, fascist

(politica: fascismo, estrema destra) (politics)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Questa è un'associazione apolitica: neri e rossi non sono ben accetti.
This is an apolitical association: fascists and communists are not welcome here.

cash in hand, under the counter

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

black and white

sostantivo maschile (film, fotografie)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

black marketer

black hole

(astronomy, also figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
I buchi neri sono legati alla vita delle stelle.

black coffee

black cabbage

sostantivo maschile (vegetable)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

there is as much difference as between black and white

lead sbd to believe the contrary of what is

be black as the ace of spades

represent untruthfully

the dark continent

(literal)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

in black and white

I will spell it out for you in black and white.

cash in hand

one says white and the other says black

work illegally

John was moonlighting with that job at the local bar.

working under the table

illegal labour

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il lavoro nero è la nostra principale fonte di sostentamento.
Work off the books is our main form of survival.

black book

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

black market

sostantivo maschile (mercato clandestino)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

put in writing

blackberry

sostantivo maschile (tipo di frutto di bosco)

black as coal

purple with rage, overcome by rage, blinded by rage

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

squid ink

sostantivo maschile (liquido di seppia)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

in black and white

locuzione avverbiale (per iscritto) (in written form)

I nostri accordi vanno messi nero su bianco.
Our understanding needs to be put down in black and white.

not tell black and white apart

black eye

sostantivo maschile (figurato (per trauma)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

black gold

(figurative: oil)

pay under the table

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

black bread

black pepper

sostantivo maschile (pianta, spezia)

cesspit

sostantivo maschile (contenitore sotterraneo)

ellipsis

blackhead

sostantivo maschile (di pelle)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

put down in black and white

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

black mirror

sostantivo maschile (strumento per la divinazione)

bad mood

sostantivo maschile (cattivo umore)

bogeyman

sostantivo maschile (figura immaginaria)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

see everything black

(literally)

Let's learn Italian

So now that you know more about the meaning of nero in Italian, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Italian.

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Italian (italiano) is a Romance language and is spoken by about 70 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Italian uses the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y do not exist in the standard Italian alphabet, but they still appear in loanwords from Italian. Italian is the second most widely spoken in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Italian is the principal working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. An important event that helped to the spread of Italian was Napoleon's conquest and occupation of Italy in the early 19th century. This conquest spurred the unification of Italy several decades later and pushed the language of the Italian language. Italian became a language used not only among secretaries, aristocrats and the Italian courts, but also by the bourgeoisie.