# brown

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɹaʊn/ · frequency rank #1,043

## Definitions
1. A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.
2. One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points.
3. Black tar heroin.
4. A copper coin.
5. A brown horse or other animal.
6. A 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. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of subfamily Satyrinae (formerly the family Satyridae), such as those of the genera Heteronympha and Melanitis.
8. A brown trout (Salmo trutta).
9. A mass of birds or animals that may be indiscriminately fired at.

## Etymology
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.
Cognates
* Dutch bruin
* German braun
* Ancient Greek φρύνη (phrúnē), φρῦνος (phrûnos, “toad”)
* Latin brunneus (“brown”)
* Lithuanian bė́ras (“brown”)
* Sanskrit बभ्रु (babhrú, “reddish-brown”)
* West Frisian brún

## Easily confused with
- **Bryn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-bryn)
- **Bryan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-bryan)
- **Byron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-byron)
- **brows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-brows)
- **browse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-browse)
- **brownie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-brownie)
- **browned** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-browned)
- **bro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bro-vs-brown)
- **bow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-brown)
- **BON** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bon-vs-brown)
- **born** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/born-vs-brown)
- **bowl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bowl-vs-brown)
- **blow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blow-vs-brown)
- **bros** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bros-vs-brown)
- **brew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brew-vs-brown)
- **brow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brow-vs-brown)
- **bows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bows-vs-brown)
- **boon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boon-vs-brown)
- **bran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bran-vs-brown)
- **Bonn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bonn-vs-brown)

## Common misspellings (8)
`bbrown`, `borwn`, `bronw`, `brownn`, `browwn`, `brrown`, `brwon`, `rbown`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/brown