black gang
2
9.9
- noun
:
pandilla negra
- From afar, he spots a group of black gang members shooting hoops.
- black gang members
Examples
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In the documentary, they discussed the influence of black gangs on street culture in major cities.
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Last night, a group of black gang members clashed with rival factions near the downtown area.
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The FBI is ignoring black gang violence.
Blog text (32) -
A man from the black gang was lodged in a corner behind the mess table, trying to find the right chord on his guitar.
Fiction book (1991) -
Black gang members play basketball in their low-rider shorts and boxers.
Fiction book (1998) -
I turned about at once, taking a dollop of sea that poured off the canvas shelter into our living quarters; the black gang popped up immediately to see if we were foundering.
Fiction book (1991) -
Police reported that a black gang was responsible for several recent robberies in the neighborhood.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a gang composed primarily of Black members' is directly compositional from 'Black' (a racial descriptor) + 'gang' (a group, often criminal). This adjective+noun pattern is a standard, cross-linguistic construction with no idiomatic shift, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Black gang may come from an old use where black meant 'hidden' or 'dangerous', and was used for groups who wore dark clothes to hide at night. That's why black gang came to mean a secret or violent group, and in some uses it also refers to gangs made up mainly of Black members.