Meaning
Illegal trade in goods, currency or services that are restricted, rationed or taxed, and the hidden system that supplies them: buying fuel on the black market, black-market prices, a black market in tickets. The colour signals concealment from the authorities rather than anything about the goods. Also attributive (black-market cigarettes) and in derivatives such as black marketeer. Neutral-to-disapproving journalism register; illegality is built into the meaning, not an implication. Regional use: General English.
Origin
Attested in English from 1931 for unauthorised dealing in restricted or rationed commodities, adjectivally from 1935 (Etymonline); it originally referred often to illicit currency exchange in Eastern Europe, and everyday domestic use took off with World War II rationing. The 'black' element belongs to a much older English pattern in which black implies darkness, invisibility and impropriety, seen in blackmail and blacklist. German has the exact parallel Schwarzmarkt, and a German derivation (sometimes tied to 1920s hyperinflation) is repeated in popular accounts, but the sources checked here derive the English phrase within English and document no calque, so the German-origin story should be treated as unverified.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a black market in something
- black-market goods
- on the black market
Usage Examples
- During the occupation, coffee and cigarettes could only be had on the black market.
- Scalpers ran a thriving black market in concert tickets outside the arena.
- He was fined for buying black-market diesel from an unlicensed depot.