白しろ黒くろ

し

ろ

く

ろ

Common wordFreq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'

Refers to visual black-and-white, monochrome images, or a clear-cut distinction between two opposites.

Used in moral or judgmental contexts to contrast two opposing sides, often in phrases like 白黒をつける (to settle a matter clearly).

白しろ黒くろの〈物もの〉black-and-white (photo, film, TV, etc.)
祖そ母ぼの家いえには白しろ黒くろの写しゃ真しんがたくさんある。
There are many black-and-white photos at my grandmother's house.
〈事こと〉の白しろ黒くろを争あらそうto dispute over which side is right or wrong in a matter
二人ふたりは契けい約やくの白しろ黒くろを争あらそって裁さい判ばんになった。
The two of them ended up in court disputing who was in the right over the contract.

モノクロ sense 1
モノクロ is the loanword for monochrome used in photography and art, while 白黒 is the native term that also covers the figurative sense of right and wrong.
善ぜん悪あくN1sense 2
善悪 is a more formal, moral-philosophical term for good and evil, while 白黒 (in this sense) is the everyday way to say 'right and wrong' about a specific dispute.
黒くろ白しろ sense 1
黒白 is a more formal, literary way of saying the same thing as 白黒, with the kanji order reversed.
是ぜ非ひN5sense 2
是非 emphasizes the rightness or wrongness of an act itself, whereas 白黒 focuses on settling which side is guilty or correct.
モノトーン
白黒 specifically means black and white, whereas モノトーン can refer to any single-color scheme, not just grayscale.

カラー sense 1
カラー means 'in color', the direct opposite of 白黒 when describing photos, film, or TV in the visual sense.

Compound of 白 (しろ, white) and 黒 (くろ, black). The figurative sense of right and wrong developed from the clear contrast between the two colors.