Meanings
nounblackboard (plural blackboards)
plural blackboards
- A large flat surface, finished with black slate or a similar material, that can be written upon with chalk and subsequently erased; a chalkboard.
1 more example
Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
2012 March 28, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106
verbblackboard (third-person singular simple present blackboards, present participle blackboarding, simple past and past participle blackboarded)
present singular third person blackboards · participle present blackboarding · participle past blackboarded · past blackboarded
- To use a blackboard to assist in an informal discussion.
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From black + board, because such surfaces were once typically made of black slate.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَبُّورَة, لَوْح
- سَبُّورَة (sabbūra)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- لَوْح (lawḥ)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Basque arbela
- arbelaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Bengali ব্ল্যাকবোর্ড
- ব্ল্যাকবোর্ড (blêkbōrḍo)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Bulgarian дъска́, че́рна дъска́
- дъска́ (dăská)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- че́рна дъска́ (čérna dăská)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Catalan pissarra
- pissarraa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Chinese Cantonese 黑板
- 黑板 (hak¹ baan²)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Chinese Mandarin 黑板
- 黑板 (hēibǎn)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Czech tabule, školní tabule
- tabulea surface that can be written upon with chalk
- školní tabulea surface that can be written upon with chalk
Danish tavle
- tavlea surface that can be written upon with chalk
Dutch schoolbord, krijtbord
- schoolborda surface that can be written upon with chalk
- krijtborda surface that can be written upon with chalk
- borda surface that can be written upon with chalk
Esperanto nigra tabulo
- nigra tabuloa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Estonian tahvel
- tahvela surface that can be written upon with chalk
Finnish liitutaulu
- liitutaulua surface that can be written upon with chalk
French tableau noir, tableau
- tableau noira surface that can be written upon with chalk
- tableaua surface that can be written upon with chalk
German Tafel
- Tafela surface that can be written upon with chalk
Greek μαυροπίνακας
- μαυροπίνακας (mavropínakas)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Hebrew לוּחַ
- לוּחַ (lúakh)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Hindi श्यामपट, ब्लैकबोर्ड
- श्यामपट (śyāmpaṭ)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- ब्लैकबोर्ड (blaikborḍ)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- तख़्ता-ए-सियाह (taxtā-e-siyāh)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Hungarian iskolatábla, iskolai tábla
- iskolatáblaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- iskolai táblaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Icelandic tafla, skólatafla
- taflaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- skólataflaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Indonesian papan tulis
- papan tulisa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Irish clár dubh
- clár dubha surface that can be written upon with chalk
Italian lavagna
- lavagnaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Japanese 黒板
- 黒板 (kokuban)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Korean 칠판, 흑판
- 칠판 (chilpan)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- 흑판 (heukpan)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Latvian tāfele
- tāfelea surface that can be written upon with chalk
Lithuanian klasės lenta, lenta
- klasės lentaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- lentaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- mokyklinė lentaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Malay papan hitam
- papan hitama surface that can be written upon with chalk
Māori papatuhituhi
- papatuhituhia surface that can be written upon with chalk
Norwegian Bokmål tavle
- tavlea surface that can be written upon with chalk
Polish tablica
- tablicaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Portuguese lousa, quadro-negro
- lousaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- quadro-negroa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- quadro de giza surface that can be written upon with chalk
- quadroa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Romanian tablă
- tablăa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Russian доска́, кла́ссная доска́
- доска́ (doská)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- кла́ссная доска́ (klássnaja doská)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- шко́льная доска́ (škólʹnaja doská)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Scottish Gaelic bòrd-dubh
- bòrd-dubha surface that can be written upon with chalk
Slovak tabuľa
- tabuľaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Spanish pizarra, encerado
- pizarraa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- enceradoa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- pizarróna surface that can be written upon with chalk
- tableroa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Swahili ubao mweusi
- ubao mweusia surface that can be written upon with chalk
Swedish svart tavla, skrivtavla
- svart tavlaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- skrivtavlaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Tagalog pisara
- pisaraa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Thai กระดานดำ, กระดาน
- กระดานดำ (grà-daan-dam)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- กระดาน (grà-daan)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Turkish tahta, kara tahta
- tahtaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
- kara tahtaa surface that can be written upon with chalk
Ukrainian до́шка, кла́сна до́шка
- до́шка (dóška)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- кла́сна до́шка (klásna dóška)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- шкільна́ до́шка (škilʹná dóška)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Urdu تَخْتَۂ سِیاہ, بِلَیک بورْڈ
- تَخْتَۂ سِیاہ (taxta-yi siyāh)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- بِلَیک بورْڈ (bilaik borḍ)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
- بْلَیک بورْڈ (blaik borḍ)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Vietnamese bảng đen
- bảng đena surface that can be written upon with chalk
Welsh bwrdd du
- bwrdd dua surface that can be written upon with chalk
Yiddish טאָוול
- טאָוול (tovl)a surface that can be written upon with chalk
Cite this entry
APA
blackboard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blackboard
MLA
“blackboard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blackboard. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blackboard,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blackboard.
Source: blackboard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.