black swans
Dark elegant waterfowl
Black swans are swans with black plumage, native to Australia.
Before European exploration discovered them, "black swan" meant something impossible—all known swans were white.
This reversal gave rise to the modern figurative sense: a black swan is an unpredictable, high-impact event that seems obvious only in hindsight.
The 2008 financial crisis was a black swan.
- metaphorsImplicit comparison expressions
- tail riskUnlikely extreme outcome probability
- symbolismsUses of representative imagery
- rareSeldom found or seen
- surpriseUnexpected event causing astonishment
once in a lifetime · cygnet · wonders · paradigm shift · prodigies · improbability · impossible odds · unpredictable · out of nowhere · animals · curiosities · rare birds · feathers · anomaly · regional myths · wild card · financial modeling · risk management
- unpredictablessurprises, chance, randomness, uncertainty, unpredictables
black, swan, blacks, swans, blacken, blackened, blackening, blackness, blacker