Brown

See also: brown

English

Etymology

From Middle English Broun, originally a nickname for someone with brown hair or a dark complexion. In the United States, sometimes an anglicization and translation of German Braun. Doublet of Bruno and Braun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹaʊn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊn

Proper noun

Brown (countable and uncountable, plural Browns)

1. (countable) A surname.
   • 2009 April 3, Helene Cooper, “Obama’s Star Turn at Summit Gets Mixed Results”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 February 2022:

     (The Browns gave the Obamas an ornate penholder made from the timber of a Victorian antislave ship.)

   • 2010 October 10, Oscar Kightley, New Zealand Herald:

     After 170 years this is the closest Auckland has come to having a brown mayor. Sure he's a Palagi. But his name is Brown, he's run Manukau for a long time and there's heaps of brown people there so he's gladly owned by many in the Pacific Community.

   • 2022 May 12, Dave Davies, “Has Tucker Carlson created the most racist show in the history of cable news?”, in NPR‎^[2], spoken by Nicholas Confessore, archived from the original on 28 June 2023:

     In his cast of characters, you really see a disproportionate focus, I think, on Black women - on Kamala Harris, who he's insinuated only has her job today because of who she dated; to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who he's demanded the LSAT scores of - I don't recall him demanding the LSAT scores for Brett Kavanaugh - Karine Jean-Pierre.

   1. An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname.
   2. An Irish surname of Anglo-Norman origin, a translation of de Brún.
2. A locale in the United States.
   1. An unincorporated community in California; named for hotelier George Brown.
   2. An unincorporated community in Louisiana; named for landowner George W. Brown.
   3. An unincorporated community in Oklahoma; named for postmaster Robert H. Brown.
   4. An unincorporated community in West Virginia; named for early settler John Brown.
   5. A ghost town in Nevada.
   6. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Brown Township.
3. Brown University.

Alternative forms

• (surname): Browne, Broun

Derived terms

• Brown clustering
• Brown County
• Brownian
• Brownism
• Brownist
• Brownite
• Brownsboro
• Browns Creek
• Brown-Séquard's hemiplegia
• Brown-Séquard's paralysis
• Brownsville
• Hanbury-Brown-Twiss effect

Translations

transliterations of the English name "Brown"

• Arabic: بْرَاوْن (brāwn)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 布朗 (zh) (Bùlǎng)

• Esperanto: Braŭno
• Greek: Μπράουν (el) (Bráoun)
• Hebrew: בראון
• Hindi: ब्राउन (brāun)
• Japanese: ブラウン (ja) (Buraun)
• Korean: 브라운 (Beuraun)
• Māori: Parāone
• Persian: براون
• Russian: Бра́ун (ru) m or f (Bráun), Бро́ун m or f (Bróun) (traditional form for some famous people)

surname meaning "brown", or indicating a dark complexion

• Afrikaans: de Bruyn, de Bruyns, Bruyn, Bruyns, de Bruin, de Bruins
• Catalan: Bru (ca)
• Danish: Brun, Bruun
• Dutch: Bruin, Bruijn, Bruyn, Bruyns, Bruins, de Bruyne, de Bruyn, de Bruin, de Bruine, de Bruijn, de Bruijne
• Finnish: Rusko (fi)
• French: Lebrun (fr), Brun (fr), Brunet (fr)
• German: Braun (de), Braune (de), Brun, Brune, Bruhn
• Hungarian: Barna (hu)
• Italian: Bruno (it), Bruni, Brunetti, Moro (it), Mori, Marrone, Mora (it), Moretti
• Norwegian: Brun, Bruun
• Polish: Brązowski
• Portuguese: Castanho, Moreno (pt)
• Spanish: Castaño (es), Moreno (es), Pardo (es)
• Swedish: Brun (sv), Bruun

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Brown is the 4^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 1,425,470 individuals. Brown is most common among White (58.0%) and Black/African American (35.6%) individuals.

Noun

Brown (plural Browns)

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

Adjective

Brown (comparative more Brown, superlative most Brown)

1. (chiefly US, often Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of brown (“of a dark complexion”).

See also

• Browne

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English Brown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁawn/, /bʁɔwn/

Proper noun

Brown ?

1. a surname from English

Scots

Proper noun

Brown

1. a surname