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PlainSpell

brown

/ˈbɹaʊ̯n/noun, adjective, verb

brown is spelled B-R-O-W-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 102 times per million words in written English, the 1,048th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brown means “A colour like that of chocolate or coffee” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brown is browns.

How many letters and syllables are in brown?

Letters5: B-R-O-W-N
Syllables1
In writing102 times per million words; the 1,048th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is brown?

Brown appears 102 times per million words in written English, the 1,048th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce brown?

  • US /ˈbɹaʊ̯n/
  • /ˈbɹæʊ̯n/
  • /ˈbɹaːn/

Brown has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-brown.ogg, En-uk-brown.ogg, En-Brown.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with brown?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as brown from its last stressed vowel (/aʊn/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of brown

  • browns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • broon
  • browner comparative
  • more brown comparative
  • brownest superlative
  • most brown superlative
  • browning participle, present
  • browned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does brown mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.

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

  2. 2

    One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points.

  3. 3

    Black tar heroin.

  4. 4

    archaicslangA copper coin.

  5. 5

    A brown horse or other animal.

  6. 6

    informalA person of mostly Latin American (or Latino), Middle Eastern/North African, South Asian, and sometimes Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, or rarely Native American descent; a brown-skinned person; someone of mulatto, or biracial appearance.

  7. 7

    Any of various nymphalid butterflies of subfamily Satyrinae (formerly the family Satyridae), such as those of the genera Heteronympha and Melanitis.

  8. 8

    informalA brown trout (Salmo trutta).

adjective

  1. 1

    Having a brown color/colour.

  2. 2

    obsoleteGloomy.

  3. 3

    USLatino/Latin American

  4. 4

    USof color.

  5. 5

    South Asian or sometimes Middle Eastern or North African

  6. 6

    Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, or sometimes Native American

  7. 7

    Not green (environmentally irresponsible); anti-green (against environmental protection).

    Near-synonyms: nongreen, antigreen

verb

  1. 1

    To become brown.

    Fry the onions until they brown.

  2. 2

    Synonym of poop (“to defecate”).

    I've just browned myself.

  3. 3

    To cook something until it becomes brown.

  4. 4

    To tan.

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

  5. 5

    To make brown or dusky.

  6. 6

    To give a bright brown colour to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coating of oxide on their surface.

  7. 7

    derogatoryoffensiveslangTo turn progressively more Hispanic or Latino, in the context of the population of a geographic region.

    the browning of America

noun

as Brown
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of brown (“person with a dark complexion”).

adjective

as Brown
  1. 1

    CanadaUKUSAlternative letter-case form of brown (“of a dark complexion”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate brown?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of brown: BRN, BRO, brn.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Brown in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmarron, brun (colour), brunir (to become brown), faire dorer, faire revenir, faire roussir (to cook until brown)
GermanBraun (colour), bräunen, anbräunen (to become brown), braun (having a brown color/colour)
Portuguesecastanho, marrom (colour), acastanhar (to become brown), dourar (to cook until brown)
Spanishmarrón, café, canelo, carmelita, carmelito, castaño (colour)

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 brown come from?

Inherited 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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after brown