brown definition

English brown definition

Etymology

From Middle English broun, from Old English brūn (“brown; dark; dusky”), from Proto-West Germanic *brūn, from Proto-Germanic *brūnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-. Doublet of bruin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹaʊn/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -aʊn

Noun

brown (countable and uncountable, plural browns)

1. (countable and uncountable) A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.

   The browns and greens in this painting give it a nice woodsy feel.

   brown:  

2. (snooker, countable) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points.
3. (uncountable) Black tar heroin.
4. (slang, archaic, countable) A copper coin.
   • 1883, “The Omnibus”, in London Town‎^[1]:

     "We've not had any breakfast,—won't you toss us down a brown?"—
     That's what they call a penny in the streets of London Town.

5. A brown horse or other animal.
   • 1877, George Nevile, Horses and Riding, page 105:

     […] browns are the soberest, bays are the worst tempered, and chestnuts are the most foolish.

6. (sometimes capitalised, countable, informal) A person of Latino, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent; a brown-skinned person; someone of mulatto or biracial appearance.
   • 2005, Kristen A. Myers, Racetalk: Racism Hiding in Plain Sight

     Many browns and blacks are immigrants — some of whom have not yet become naturalized citizens of the United States.

7. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of subfamily Satyrinae (formerly the family Satyridae).
8. (entomology) Any of certain species of nymphalid butterflies of subfamily Satyrinae, such as those of the genera Heteronympha and Melanitis.
9. (informal) A brown trout (Salmo trutta).
10. (hunting, as "the brown") A mass of birds or animals that may be indiscriminately fired at.
    • 1928, R. Pigot, Twenty-five Years Big Game Hunting (page 166)

      The temptation to have a shot into the brown was great. There was not a head there which was not a big one and the one by himself was not too easy a shot since it is always difficult to shoot when lying in soft snow.

    • 1979, Kevin Andrews, Athens Alive (page 223)

      My anger mounted at this, I opened the courtyard door and raised my musket to fire into the brown; I had loaded it with small shot, and if it had gone off that would have been the death of us and the ruin of all of us in the house.

Derived terms

• mummy brown

Descendants

• Bislama: braon
• Tok Pisin: braun
• → Welsh: brown
• → Tongan: palauni

Translations

Adjective

brown (comparative browner or more brown, superlative brownest or most brown)

1. Having a brown colour.
2. (obsolete) Gloomy.
3. (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.
   1. (US) Latino
   2. (of Asians) South Asian
   3. (of East Asians) Southeast Asian

Descendants

• American Sign Language: B@Cheek-PalmForward B@Jaw-PalmForward

Translations

Verb

brown (third-person singular simple present browns, present participle browning, simple past and past participle browned)

1. (intransitive) To become brown.

   Synonyms: (chiefly literary and poetic) embrown, brownify

   Fry the onions until they brown.

   • 2006, Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 269:

     The chicken was browning nicely, the skin beginning to crisp and take on the toasty tones of oiled wood.

2. (cooking, transitive) To cook something until it becomes brown.
   • 1887, Indian Cookery "Local" for Young Housekeepers: Second Edition (page 67)

     Pound an onion, warm a spoonful of ghee and throw in the onion, brown it slightly, add your curry stuff, brown this till it smells pleasantly, […]

3. (intransitive, transitive) To tan.

   Light-skinned people tend to brown when exposed to the sun.

4. (transitive) To make brown or dusky.

   Synonym: (chiefly literary and poetic) embrown

   • 1807, Joel Barlow, The Columbiad:

     A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves, / Browns the dim void and darkens deep the groves.

5. (transitive) To give a bright brown colour to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coating of oxide on their surface.
   • 1860, Andrew Ure, Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines‎^[2], page 463:

     It is mixed uniformly with olive oil, and rubbed upon the iron slightly heated, which is afterwards exposed to the air, till the wished-for degree of browning is produced.

6. (demography, transitive, intransitive, slang, ethnic slur, usually derogatory, offensive) To turn progressively more Hispanic or Latino, in the context of the population of a geographic region.

   the browning of America

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

• brunet
• burnet

See also

• golding

Colors in English · colors, colours (layout · text)

white	gray, grey	black
red; crimson	orange; brown	yellow; cream
lime, lime green	green	mint
cyan; teal	azure, sky blue	blue
violet; indigo	magenta; purple	pink

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Welsh brown definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English brown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brou̯n/
• Rhymes: -ou̯n

Adjective

brown (feminine singular brown, plural brown, equative browned, comparative brownach, superlative brownaf)

1. brown

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
brown	frown	mrown	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

See also

Colors in Welsh · lliwiau (layout · text)

gwyn	llwyd	du
coch; rhudd	oren, melyngoch; brown	melyn; melynwyn
gwyrdd leim	gwyrdd
gwyrddlas; glaswyrdd	asur, gwynlas	glas
fioled; indigo	majenta; porffor	pinc