Brown

Brown

Brown is a color term, denoting a range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red, rose, or yellow with black or gray. The term is from Old English brún, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color. The first recorded use of brown as a color name in English was in 1000. The Common Germanic adjective *brûnoz, *brûnâ meant both dark colors and a glistening or shining quality, whence burnish. The current meaning developed in Middle English from the 14th century.

Read more about Brown.

Famous quotes containing the word brown:

    “Oh you brown bacon machine,
    how sweet you lie,
    gaining a pound and a half a day,
    you rolled-up pair of socks,
    you dog’s nightmare....”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “they are brown and soft,
    And liable to melt as snow.”
    —Hart Crane (1899–1932)

    “Out of the bosom of the Air,
    Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
    Over the woodlands brown and bare,
    Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
    Silent, and soft, and slow
    Descends the snow.”
    —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)