bone black
noun
: the black residue chiefly of tribasic calcium phosphate and carbon from bones calcined in closed vessels used especially as a pigment or as a decolorizing adsorbent in sugar manufacturing
called also bone char
Examples of bone black in a Sentence
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All of Raphael’s portraits in the octagon are quite distinct—the palette ranges from emerald green and cinnabar to earthy browns and bone black—but there is one bizarre consistency.
—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bone black.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bone%20black. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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