To provide a light-emitting material containing a compound having a high excitation triplet level, particularly a host material of a light emitting layer, as a material for an organic electroluminescent device with high efficiency, and also to provide an organic electroluminescent device with high efficiency and high luminance by using the material. A light-emitting material containing a compound having a carbazole ring structure represented by the following general formula (1), and an organic electroluminescent device containing a pair of electrodes and one layer or plural layers including at least a light emitting layer intervening between the electrodes, the light emitting layer containing as a constitutional material thereof the light-emitting material.