donker

Donker is a Dutch adjective meaning lacking light or having low brightness, and it is used to describe color, environments, and mood. It can refer to physical darkness as well as to intensity or shade, for example in phrases like een donker huis (a dark house) or het donker (the dark, darkness). The word can also function as a noun in expressions such as in het donker (in the dark) or the donker of night in literary usage.

Etymology and cognates: donker is of Germanic origin and is cognate with the German dunkel and the English dark. The term traces back to proto-Germanic roots associated with darkness and low light, a lineage shared across West Germanic languages.

Usage and forms: in color naming, donker forms a productive prefix for darker shades, producing common compounds such as donkerblauw (dark blue), donkergroen (dark green), donkergrijs (dark gray), donkerbruin (dark brown), donkerrood (dark red), and donkergoud (dark gold). As an adjective, donker inflects like other Dutch adjectives; the comparative form is donkerder and the superlative donkerste. In practice, the choice of compounds and inflections follows standard Dutch adjective rules and agrees with the noun it describes.

Nuance: while donker generally describes neutral or descriptive darkness, the related term duister often carries a more ominous or gloomy connotation. Donker can thus denote physical shading as well as mood or atmosphere, depending on context.

See also: color, Dutch language, Dutch adjectives, darkness.