black belt

See also: blackbelt

English

Etymology 1

Calque of Japanese 黒帯 (kuroobi)

Noun

black belt (plural black belts)

1. (martial arts) The highest belt colour in various martial arts.

   Synonym: dan

2. (martial arts) Someone who has attained the black belt in martial arts.

   Synonym: dan

   Raymond is a black belt in karate.

3. (figurative, colloquial) Great skill in any field.
4. (management) A senior manager who is expert in one of various management systems such as Six Sigma or DMAIC and acts in a project leader or mentor role.
   • 2011, Bob Paladino, Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management, →ISBN:

     I had the good fortune of being engaged to participate as a trainer to GE Capital Corporation, where we helped to launch their now well-known and highly regarded black belt program.

Coordinate terms

• green belt, white belt

Translations

highest belt color in various martial arts

• Arabic: حِزَام أَسْوَد m (ḥizām ʔaswad)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黑帶 / 黑带 (hēidài)

• Finnish: musta vyö
• French: ceinture noire (fr) f
• German: schwarzer Gürtel m
• Hebrew: חֲגוֹרָה שְׁחוֹרָה f (ẖagorá sh'ẖorá)
• Japanese: 黒帯 (くろおび, kuroobi)
• Portuguese: faixa preta f
• Russian: чёрный поя́с m (čórnyj pojás)
• Spanish: cinta negra f

person who has attained the black belt

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黑帶 / 黑带 (hēidài)

• Finnish: not used in Finnish (instead say jollakulla on musta vyö "someone has a black belt")
• French: ceinture noire (fr) f
• German: Schwarzgürtel m
• Marathi: ब्लॅक बेल्ट m (blĕk belṭa)
• Portuguese: faixa preta m or f
• Russian: чернопоя́сник m (černopojásnik) (rare)

Etymology 2

From black +‎ belt, originally named after the dark soil.

Noun

black belt (plural black belts)

1. (US, southern) A geographic region where the residents are predominantly or exclusively African-American.
   • 1992, Hanes Walton, The Native Son Presidential Candidate: The Carter Vote in Georgia, →ISBN, page 5:

     Bernard Cosman found that in Georgia, it was the black belt whites who gave Goldwater his largest percentage of the vote.

2. (geology) A roughly crescent-shaped geological formation of dark fertile soil in the Southern United States.
   • 2014, Richard Pillsbury, editor, The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, volume 2, University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 157:

     The Black Belt region, also called the Black Prairie, extends 300 miles across central Alabama and northeast Mississippi and into Tennessee. […] The dark soil for which the Black Belt was named was once famous for its richness and the abundant cotton produced in it.

   • 2018, Seth C. McKee, The Dynamics of Southern Politics: Causes and Consequences, CQ Press, →ISBN, page 9:

     The most politically powerful southerners were those who hailed from the black belt region— distinguished by its dark and fertile soil—which contained the bulk of large-scale plantation and hence the highest percentage of slaves.

Alternative forms

• Black Belt

Coordinate terms

• (region of United States): Bible Belt, Rust Belt, white belt

Related terms

• (dark fertile soil): black earth