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.
The adjective is applied to naturally occurring colors, referring to animal fur, human hair, human skin pigmentation (tans), partially charred or carbonized fiber as in toasted bread and other foods, peat, withered leaves, etc.
In terms of the visible spectrum, "brown" refers to high wavelength (low frequency) hues, yellow, orange, or red, in combination with low luminance or saturation. Since brown may cover a wide range of the visible spectrum, composite adjectives are used such as red brown, yellowish brown, dark brown or light brown.
As a color of low intensity, brown is a tertiary color: a mix of the three subtractive primary colors is brown if the cyan content is low. Brown exists as a color perception only in the presence of a brighter color contrast yellow, orange, red, or rose objects are still perceived as such if the general illumination level is low, despite reflecting the same amount of red or orange light as a brown object would in normal lighting conditions.
Read more about Brown: Red-brown (web Color "brown"), Brown in Nature, Brown in Culture
Other articles related to "brown":
... On October 16, 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led an attempt to start an armed slave revolt by seizing the U.S ... Brown and twenty followers, both whites (including two of Brown's sons) and blacks (three free blacks, one freedman, and one fugitive slave), planned to seize the armory and use ... Ten of the raiders were killed, including both of Brown's sons Brown himself along with a half dozen of his followers were captured four of the raiders escaped immediate capture ...
... Joseph Roger "Joe" Brown, MBE (born 13 May 1941,) is an English entertainer ... Described by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles Albums, as a "chirpy Cockney", Brown was one of the original artists managed by the early rock impresario Larry Parnes ...
... Season Player Team(s) Games played Assists APG 1967–68 Brown, LarryLarry Brown* New Orleans Buccaneers 506. 6.5 1968–69 Brown, LarryLarry Brown* (2) Oakland Oaks 544. 7 ...
... Its colouring ranges from orange to brown to almost black on its back and may include brown marbling or brown stripes on either side of its back, which aid in camouflage ...
... Animal Rights The Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Edwardian England from 1903 until 1910 ... Business Pullman Brown is the color of the United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery company with their trademark brown trucks and uniforms it was earlier the color of Pullman ... Chandler, Arizona has brown street signs at most of its intersections rather than the usual green or blue ...
Famous quotes containing the word brown:
“My ole man died—hunh—
Cussin’ me;
Ole lady rocks, bebby,
Huh misery.”
—Sterling Allen Brown (b. 1901)
“What have Massachusetts and the North sent a few sane representatives to Congress for, of late years?... All their speeches put together and boiled down ... do not match for manly directness and force, and for simple truth, the few casual remarks of crazy John Brown on the floor of the Harper’s Ferry engine-house,—that man whom you are about to hang, to send to the other world, though not to represent you there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“they are brown and soft,
And liable to melt as snow.”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)