geschwärzt

Geschwärzt is a German term used as both a past participle and adjective, formed from the verb schwärzen, meaning to turn black or to darken. It describes surfaces or materials that have become blackened by heat, smoke, or charring, such as geschwärzte Wände after a fire, geschwärzte Metalloberflächen durch Ruß, or geschwärzte Stellen an Holz oder Textilien. In cooking or food preparation, geschwärzt can refer to items that are charred or darkened by grilling or searing.

In addition to its physical sense, geschwärzt is also used in the context of redaction or censorship. A document or passage that has been intentionally obscured is described as geschwärzt, with the sensitive parts concealed by ink or black bars. This usage is common in media reports, legal documents, and government disclosures where information is to be hidden from readers.

Grammatically, geschwärzt functions as an adjective or a predicate participle: Der Text ist geschwärzt (the text is redacted) or Eine geschwärzte Fläche (a blackened area). The term often appears in technical descriptions of material condition, restoration reports, and quality control, as well as in journalistic or administrative contexts.

Etymology traces to schwarz (black) with the verb-forming element -schwärzen, yielding the participle geschwärzt. Related terms include schwärzen (to blacken, to smear) and die Schwärze (the blackness, soot). The exact sense of geschwärzt is usually determined by context, distinguishing physical darkening from textual redaction.