Brown

Pronunciation

• IPA: /braÊŠn/
• Rhymes: -aÊŠn

Origin

From Middle English broun, from Old English brūn ("dark, shining"), from Proto-Germanic *brūnaz (compare West Frisian brún, Dutch bruin, German braun), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHnos (compare Ancient Greek φρύνη, φρῦνος (phrŷnos, "toad")), enlargement of *bʰrew- ("shiny, brown") (compare Lithuanian bė́ras ("brown"), Sanskrit बभ्रु (babhrú, "reddish-brown")).

Full definition of brown

Noun

1. A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.The browns and greens in this painting give it a nice woodsy feel.
2. (snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points.
3. Black tar heroin.
4. (sometimes capitalised) A person of Middle Eastern, or South Asian descent; a brown-skinned person

Adjective

1. Having a brown colour.
2. (obsolete) Gloomy.

Antonyms

• (having brown as its colour) nonbrown

Descendants

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

Verb

1. To become brown. Fry the onions until they brown.
2. (cooking) To cook something until it becomes brown.Brown the onions in a large frying pan.
3. To tan.Light-skinned people tend to brown when exposed to the sun.
4. (transitive) To make brown or dusky.
• BarlowA 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.
6. (demography, slang) To turn progressively more Hispanic or Latino, in the context of the population of a geographic region.the browning of America

Derived terms

Related terms

• brunet
• burnet