What does blacktop mean?
Blacktop is the everyday American word for the dark asphalt material used to pave roads, driveways, schoolyards, and playgrounds, as well as for the finished paved surface itself. Made from bitumen mixed with crushed aggregate, it gets its name simply from its color: a black top layer. The term is most at home in casual North American speech — people shoot hoops on the blacktop, kids draw chalk pictures on it, and crews resurface it each summer. It functions mainly as an uncountable noun for the substance, though it can name a particular paved stretch of ground, and it also works as a verb meaning to pave with asphalt. Outside North America, speakers usually reach for 'tarmac' rather than blacktop. The word's connotations are thoroughly domestic and nostalgic — summer heat shimmering off a driveway, sneakers slapping a schoolyard court — which makes it a vivid, culturally loaded choice in writing about American childhood and suburban life.
A black bituminous paving material, or a surface paved with it, used especially for roads, driveways, and playgrounds.
"The new blacktop still smelled of tar a week after the crew finished."
Often uncountable when referring to the material, but countable when naming a specific paved area, as in 'a cracked blacktop.'
To cover or pave a surface with asphalt.
"They plan to blacktop the entire campground loop before Memorial Day."
The plural applies only to the countable sense referring to individual paved surfaces, not to the material itself.
"The contractor repaved all three blacktops at the elementary school over the summer break."
On a scorching summer day, a fresh blacktop surface can get hot enough — over 140°F — to fry an egg, which is why playgrounds built on it can literally burn bare feet.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of blacktop
Blacktop is a straightforward English compound of 'black' and 'top,' formed when asphalt paving became widespread in late 19th- and early 20th-century America; it emerged as a popular alternative to more technical terms like 'asphalt' or 'macadam.' Both elements are native Germanic words: 'black' from Old English 'blæc' and 'top' from Old English 'topp.' Related compounds such as 'laptop,' 'rooftop,' and 'desktop' share the same 'top' element, while 'blacktop' itself gave rise to the derived verb forms 'blacktop' and its inflections.
Related word forms
How blacktop is actually used
Blacktop is chiefly North American; British speakers typically say 'tarmac' instead. The noun is often used uncountably for the material but also countably ('a blacktop') for a specific paved area. In American English it carries a slightly informal, everyday register — evoking schoolyards, basketball courts, and suburban driveways more than engineering documents.
Easily confused with blacktop
Tarmac is the British term for the same paving material and also refers specifically to airport runways, while blacktop is the common American term.
Concrete is a gray cement-based paving material mixed with stone aggregate, whereas blacktop is a dark petroleum-based asphalt product.