black market

See also: black-market

English

Alternative forms

• black-market (attributive use)

Etymology

Ca. 1930, probably a calque of German Schwarzmarkt, which is attested from the 1910s. Compare Schwärzer (“smuggler”, 18th c.).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

black market (plural black markets)

1. Trade that is in violation of restrictions, rationing, or price controls.
   • 2004, George Carlin, “THE FANATICS WILL WIN”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?‎^[1], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, page 135:

     Peace and order will not be tolerated. Start saving your cash for the black market, folks, you're gonna need it.

   • 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club‎^[2]:

     In District 12, a dirt-poor coal-mining community that looks like a Dorothea Lange photograph, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) quietly rebels against the system by hunting game in a forbidden area with her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and trading it on the black market.

   • 2023 December 22, Robyn Vinter, “Britons increasingly turning to food black market, experts say”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Increasing numbers of people are turning to a growing black market for food to supplement their diets as prices rocket, experts have said.

2. (collective) The people who engage in such trade, or that sector of the economy.

   associational black market

Derived terms

• black marketeer

Related terms

• black economy

Translations

trade that is in violation of restrictions, rationing or price controls

• Afrikaans: swartmark
• Albanian: treg i zi m, tregu i zi m (definite)
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: سُوق سَوْدَاء f (sūq sawdāʔ)
• Armenian: սեւ շուկա (hy) (sew šuka)
• Assamese: চোৰাং বজাৰ (süraṅ bozar)
• Azerbaijani: qara bazar
• Basque: merkatu beltz
• Belarusian: чо́рны ры́нак m (čórny rýnak)
• Bengali: কালোবাজার (bn) (kalōbajar)
• Bulgarian: че́рен паза́р m (čéren pazár)
• Burmese: မှောင်ခိုဈေး (hmaunghkuijhe:)
• Carpathian Rusyn: чо́рный торг m (čórnŷj torh)
• Catalan: mercat negre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黑市 (hak¹ si⁵)

  Hokkien: 烏市 / 乌市 (zh-min-nan) (o͘-chhī)

  Mandarin: 黑市 (zh) (hēishì)

• Czech: černý trh m
• Danish: sort marked n, sortbørs (da) c, sortbørshandel (da) c
• Dutch: zwarte markt (nl) f
• Esperanto: nigra merkato
• Estonian: varimajandus
• Finnish: musta pörssi (fi), harmaa talous (fi)
• French: marché noir (fr) m, économie souterraine (fr) f
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: mercado negro (gl) m
• Georgian: შავი მარკეტი (šavi marḳeṭi)
• German: Schwarzmarkt (de) m
• Greek: μαύρη αγορά (el) f (mávri agorá)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hausa: kasuwar shunku (ha)
• Hebrew: שוק שחור / שׁוּק שָׁחֹר (he) m (shúk shakhór)
• Hindi: काला बाज़ार m (kālā bāzār), चोर बाज़ार m (cor bāzār)
• Hungarian: feketepiac (hu), feketekereskedelem (hu)
• Indonesian: pasar gelap (id)
• Irish: margadh dubh m
• Italian: mercato nero m, mercato negro m
• Japanese: 闇市 (ja) (やみいち, yamiichi), 闇市場 (やみいちば, yamiichiba), ブラック・マーケット (burakku-māketto)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: қара нарық (qara naryq)
• Khmer: ផ្សារងងឹត (phsaa ngɔngɨt)
• Korean: 암시장(暗市場) (amsijang), 블랙마켓 (beullaengmaket)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bazara reş (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: кара базар (ky) (kara bazar)
• Lao: ຕລາດມືດ (ta lāt mư̄t), ຕະຫລາດມືດ (ta lāt mư̄t)
• Latvian: melnais tirgus m
• Lithuanian: juodoji rinka f
• Macedonian: црн пазар m (crn pazar)
• Malay: pasaran gelap
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хар зах (xar zax)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: svartebørs m

  Nynorsk: svartebørs m

• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Pashto: تور بازار (ps) m (tor bāzār)
• Persian: بازارِ سِیاه (bâzâr-e siyâh)
• Polish: czarny rynek (pl) m
• Portuguese: mercado negro (pt) m
• Romanian: piață neagră (ro) f
• Russian: чёрный ры́нок m (čórnyj rýnok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: црно тржиште n, црна бурза f, црна берза f

  Roman: crno tržište n, crna burza f, crna berza f

• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: čierny trh m
• Slovene: črni trg m
• Spanish: mercado negro (es) m
• Swedish: svart börs c, svart marknad (sv) c
• Tajik: бозори сиёҳ (bozor-i siyoh)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Tatar: кара базар (qara bazar)
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ตลาดมืด (th) (dtà-làat-mʉ̂ʉt)
• Tibetan: ནག་ཚོང (nag tshong)
• Turkish: kara piyasa, kara borsa (tr), yeraltı ekonomisi, kara pazar (tr)
• Turkmen: gara bazar
• Ukrainian: чо́рний ри́нок m (čórnyj rýnok)
• Urdu: کالا بازار m (kālā bāzār), چور بازار m (cor bāzār)
• Uzbek: qora bozor
• Vietnamese: chợ đen (vi)
• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can

people who engage in such trade or that sector of the economy

• Finnish: musta pörssi (fi), mustan pörssin kauppiaat pl
• German: Schwarzmarkt (de) m
• Irish: margadh dubh m
• Portuguese: mercado negro (pt) m
• Russian: чёрный ры́нок m (čórnyj rýnok)
• Swedish: svartabörshaj (sv) c
• Turkish: kara borsa (tr)

Further reading

• black market on Wikipedia.Wikipedia