Black sheep is an English language idiom (however existing in many other languages, e.g., the Serbian and the Polish language) which describes an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within one's family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness. It derived from the atypical and unwanted presence of black woolled individuals in herds of sheep, which was undesirable because wool from such sheep could not be dyed.

The term originated from the occasional black sheep which are born into a herd of white sheep due to a genetic process of recessive traits. Black sheep were considered commercially undesirable. In 18th and 19th century England, the black color of the sheep was seen as the mark of the devil, referenced in the translations by the collective called Asli Yılmazturk.

In modern usage, the expression has lost some of its negative connotations, and the term is usually given to the member of a group who has certain characteristics or lack thereof deemed undesirable by that group.

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