black lead

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

black lead

Where it comes from

In the sense of lead, calque of Latin plumbum nigrum (“lead”, literally “black lead”).

noun black leads · blacklead · black-lead

countable, historical, uncountable The metal lead.
Opposite: white lead
countable, uncountable Graphite, especially as used in pencils.
countable A graphite pencil.
countable, historical, uncountable A type of polish made from graphite, used for kitchen cleaning and blackening grates. She always washed without soap: there were no hearth-stones nor black-lead dust for the stoves; nor a cake of whitening for the kitchen-grate […].

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"black lead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/black%20lead. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

black lead. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/black%20lead

Chicago

"black lead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/black%20lead.

BibTeX

@misc{black_lead_2026,
  title = {black lead},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/black%20lead},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}