auburn
/ˈɔ.bɚn/noun, adjective
auburn is spelled A-U-B-U-R-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Auburn, the name). As a noun, auburn means “A dark reddish-brown colour, often used to describe hair colour” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of auburn is auburns.
How many letters and syllables are in auburn?
| Letters | 6: A-U-B-U-R-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.2 times per million words; the 10,843rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is auburn?
Auburn appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Auburn, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce auburn?
- US /ˈɔ.bɚn/
- /ˈɑ.bɚn/
Auburn has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-Auburn.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of auburn
- auburns plural
- more auburn comparative
- most auburn superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does auburn mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A dark reddish-brown colour, often used to describe hair colour.
adjective
- 1
Of a reddish-brown colour.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Auburn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense reddish-brown:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | roux, auburn |
| German | Rotbraun, Kastanienbraun, kastanienbraun, rotbraun, rötlichbraun |
| Portuguese | castanho-avermelhado, castanho avermelhado |
| Spanish | castaño, castaña, bermejo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does auburn come from?
Early Modern English auburn (“brown, reddish brown”) from Middle English aubourne, abron, abroune, abrune (“light brown, yellowish brown, blond”), alteration (due to conflation with Middle English brun (“brown”)) of earlier auborne (“yellowish-white, flaxen”) from Old French auborne, alborne (“blond, flaxen, off-white”) from Medieval Latin alburnus (“whitish”), from Latin albus (“white”). More at albino, brown.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).