# What does ‘in the red / in the black’ mean?

To “in the red / in the black” means to losing money / making a profit. A 20th-century accountant's idiom, from the traditional practice of writing debits in red ink and credits in black; not in Brewer's 1898.

## What it means

- A 20th-century accountant's idiom, from the traditional practice of writing debits in red ink and credits in black; not in Brewer's 1898.

## Action steps

1. Standard business shorthand.
2. Example: The company is finally back in the black.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

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