brownie

See also Brownie

English

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

chocolate brownies.

mythical brownies.

Etymology

From brown +‎ -ie (“diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /ˈbraʊni/

  Rhymes: -aʊni

• Hyphenation: brown‧ie

Noun

brownie (plural brownies)

1. A small square piece of rich cake, usually made with chocolate.
   • 2000, Lori Gottlieb, Stick Figure: a diary of my former self, page 173,

     […] if she ever found out she was dying, she′d just eat brownies all day and night until the very end.

   • 2005, Aaron Lazare, On Apology, unnumbered page,

     On a Saturday afternoon, my wife bought her favorite treat for dessert that evening, a gourmet, nut-filled brownie.

   • 2005, Steve Otto, Memoirs of a Drugged-Up, Sex-Crazed Yippie, page 228,

     After cooking the brownies until we could smell the pot, we each ate a large brownie.

2. (folklore) A mythical creature, a helpful elf who would do people′s housework for them.
   • 1908, Dinah Craik, The Adventures of A Brownie.
   • 1985, The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 1, page 636,

     Stories were told of a brownie riding horseback to fetch the midwife at childbirth or helping his master to win at checkers.

   • 2004, Justin Hocking, Jeffrey Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher (editors), Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End, page 37,

     There are no brownies in my house, though. I know because there′s always a pile of dishes in the sink.

3. (paganism) A household spirit or revered ancestor.
4. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A tall, long-necked beer bottle, made from brown coloured glass.

Derived terms

• chocolate brownie
• hash brownie

Translations

a small rich cake, usually made with chocolate, usually brown and square

• Arabic: جنية سمراء صغيرة (ar)
• Azeri: damdabaca (az)
• Czech: šotek (cs) n
• Finnish: suklaaleivos

• Icelandic: súkkulaðikökum (is)
• Portuguese: fadinha (pt) f
• Vietnamese: ma tốt (vi)

a mythical creature, a kind of elf that would do people's housework for them

• Finnish: kotitonttu (fi)
• Russian: домовой (ru) (domovój) m

• Scottish Gaelic: ùraisg (gd) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Estonian: hellake (et)

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Spanish

Noun

brownie m (plural brownies)

1. brownie