brunette

See also: Brunette, brünette, and Brünette

English

Alternative forms

• brunet (rare, of a man or boy)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-?

Proto-Germanic *brūnaz

Frankish *brūnbor.

Old French brun

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tosder.?

Late Latin -ittus

Old French -et

Old French brunet

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Italic *-ā

Latin -am

Old French -e

Old French brunete

French brunettebor.

English brunette

Borrowed from French brunette, the feminine form of brunet, from brun (“brown”). Doublet of burnet.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɹuˈnɛt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɹuːˈnɛt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bru‧nette
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Adjective

brunette (not comparable)

1. (of hair) Of a brown color or tone.
2. (of a person) Having brown hair.

   Synonym: (uncommon) brune

Derived terms

• bronde
• brunetteness
• -ette

Translations

having brown hair

• Arabic: امرأَة ذات شعر بني أو أسود, سمراء
• Bulgarian: тъмноко́с (tǎmnokós)
• Catalan: bru (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 棕髮 / 棕发 (zōngfà)

• Danish: mørkhåret
• Dutch: brunette (nl), brunet (now uncommon)
• Estonian: brünett
• Finnish: ruskeaverikkö, tumma (fi)
• French: brun (fr)
• Galician: moreno (gl)
• German: brünett (de)
• Greek: καστανός (el) (kastanós)
• Irish: donn (ga) donnchiabhach
• Italian: castana (it), castana scura, bruna (it)
• Latvian: tumšmatains
• Macedonian: темнокос (temnokos), црнокос (crnokos)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mørkhåret, mørkhåra

  Nynorsk: mørkhåra

• Polish: szatynowy, ciemnowłosy (pl)
• Portuguese: morena (pt), de/com cabelo castanho
• Romanian: brunetă
• Russian: темноволо́сый (ru) (temnovolósyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: donn
• Spanish: castaño (es), morocho (es), moreno (es)
• Swedish: brunett (sv), mörkhårig (sv)
• Tagalog: pulahang buhok
• Turkish: esmer (tr)
• Yiddish: ברונעט (brunet)

Noun

brunette (plural brunettes)

1. A person, especially female, with brown hair.

   Synonym: (uncommon) brune

   Hyponym: (dated) brownette

   • 1866, Luke Owen Pike, “The Evidence of Physical Characteristics”, in The English and Their Origin. A Prologue to Authentic English History., London: Longmans, Green, and Co., pages 145–146:

     And M. [Henri-François-Alphonse] Esquiros, in describing the Dutch generally, speaks of beauties both blondes and brunettes, ‘for black hair is not uncommon in the Netherlands.’ These words seem to imply that black hair does not preponderate; and, if not, there must be a marked difference between the Dutch and the English. Here again is confirmation of the opinion that the modern English are somewhat more dark-haired than the ancient Saxons.

   • 1946, William Hatfield, Buffalo Jim, Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege, page 70:

     The housekeeper, a very decorative brunette of thirty-five with a pseudo-English accent, greeted him with a mixture of grateful effusion and condescending patronage.

   • 2020, Eleanore King, Glorify Yourself:

     Brownheads or brunettes use a darker red than blondes and redheads.

   1. (dated, strictly) A person, especially female, with dark brown hair.

      Coordinate term: (dated) brownette

      • 1947 September 5, “Sears”, in The Kansas City Star, main edition, volume 67, number 336, Kansas City, Mo., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 6:

        FOR THE BLONDE. . . […] FOR THE BROWNETTE. . . […] FOR THE REDETTE. . . […] FOR THE BRUNETTE. . . whose coloring is accented with nationally known Barbara Gould beauty aids— […]

      • 1960 January 21, John Robinson, “In This Corner”, in The Hamilton Spectator, home edition, volume CXV, number 17, Hamilton, Ont., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 31, column 6:

        The models were very attractive indeed (blondes, brunettes, brownettes but no redettes) but on the slim side.

      • 1965 November 25, Furman Bisher, “I’m Thankful”, in The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, final edition, volume 16, number 27, Atlanta, Ga., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2-D, column 1:

        I’m thankful for brunettes. And brownettes. And redettes. And blondettes.

Derived terms

• bluenette
• bronde
• -ette

Translations

a person, especially female, with brown hair

• Arabic: سَمْرَاء f (samrāʔ)
• Bulgarian: брюне́т (bg) m (brjunét), брюне́тка f (brjunétka)
• Czech: bruneta (cs) f
• Danish: brunette (da) c (female)
• Dutch: brunette (nl) f
• Estonian: brünett
• Finnish: tummaverikkö
• French: brune (fr) f, brun (fr) m
• German: Brünette (de) f, Brünetter (de) m
• Greek: καστανή (el) f (kastaní)
• Hebrew: ברונטית f (brunet'it)
• Ido: brunetino (io)
• Irish: bean dhonn f (literally "brown-haired woman"), cailín donn m (literally "brown-haired girl")
• Latvian: tumšmate f, tumšmatis m, brunete f, brunets m
• Macedonian: ка́леша f (káleša), брине́та f (brinéta)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brunette m or f

  Nynorsk: brunette f

• Polish: brunetka (pl) f, brunet (pl) m, bruneta (pl) f (dated, rare)
• Portuguese: morena (pt) f
• Russian: шате́н (ru) m (šatɛ́n) шате́нка (ru) f (šatɛ́nka)
• Slovak: bruneta (sk) f, brunetka (sk) f, brunet (sk) m
• Spanish: morocho (es) m, moreno (es) m
• Swedish: brunett (sv) c
• Turkish: esmer (tr)
• Yiddish: ברונעטין f (brunetin), ברונעטקע f (brunetke), ברונעט m (brunet)

See also

• blonde
• noirette

Anagrams

• Buettner, Burnette

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French brunette, the feminine form of brunet, from brun (“brown”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brunɛtə/, [b̥ʁuˈnɛd̥ə]

Noun

brunette c (singular definite brunetten, plural indefinite brunetter)

1. brunette (a girl or woman with brown or black hair)

Inflection

Declension of brunette

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	brunette	brunetten	brunetter	brunetterne
genitive	brunettes	brunettens	brunetters	brunetternes

See also

• blondine ("blonde", a blond female)

Dutch

Alternative forms

• bruinet (archaic)
• bruinette (archaic)
• brunet

Etymology

Borrowed from French brunette.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbryˈnɛ.tə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bru‧net‧te
• Rhymes: -ɛtə

Noun

brunette f (plural brunettes or brunetten, diminutive brunetje n or brunettetje n)

1. brunette (brown-haired or dark-haired female)

Descendants

• Afrikaans: brunet

Adjective

brunette

1. inflection of brunet:
   1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
   2. definite neuter singular attributive
   3. plural attributive
2. dated form of brunet

French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-?

Proto-Germanic *brūnaz

Frankish *brūnbor.

Old French brun

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tosder.?

Late Latin -ittus

Old French -et

Old French brunet

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Italic *-ā

Latin -am

Old French -e

Old French brunete

French brunette

From Old French brunete, equivalent to brunet +‎ -e.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

Noun

brunette f (plural brunettes)

1. brunette

   Synonym: brune

Descendants

• → English: brunette

Further reading

• “brunette”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Noun

brunette f

1. plural of brunetta

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French brunette.

Noun

brunette f or m (definite singular brunetta or brunetten, indefinite plural brunetter, definite plural brunettene)

1. a brunette (woman or girl with dark brown hair)

References

• “brunette” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French brunette.

Noun

brunette f (definite singular brunetta, indefinite plural brunetter, definite plural brunettene)

1. a brunette (as above)

References

• “brunette” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.