Shades of brown

Shades of brown can be produced by combining red, yellow, and black

Brown colors are typically desaturated shades of reds, oranges, and yellows which are created on computer and television screens using the RGB color model and in printing with the CMYK color model. Browns can also be created by mixing two complementary colors from the RYB color model (combining all three primary colors). In theory, such combinations should produce black, but produce brown because most commercially available blue pigments tend to be comparatively weaker; the stronger red and yellow colors prevail, thus creating brown tones.

Displayed here are some common brown shades. Some of them are associated with (any of various types of) soil, rock, or vegetation and are thus also classifiable among the earth tones.

Red-brown (web color "brown")

The

The historical and traditional name for this color is red-brown.

The color shown above at the top right at the head of this article (color #964B00) is the color normally and traditionally regarded as brown—a medium dark orange. Its h (hue) code is 30, which signifies a shade of orange. The color to the immediate right (color #A52A2A) that was chosen as the web color "brown"—a medium dark red—is the color traditionally called red-brown. That this color is a shade of red and not orange can be easily ascertained by inspecting its h (hue) code, which is 0, signifying a shade of red.

The first recorded use of red-brown as a color name in English was in 1682.^[2]

Brown (RYB)

Displayed at right is the color that is called brown in the RYB color model. It is an equal mix of red, yellow and blue.^[3]

Additional variations of brown

Rosy brown

Displayed here is the web color rosy brown. At a hue of 359, it is classified as a red-brown.

The color name rosy brown first came into use in 1987, when this color was formulated as one of the X11 colors, which in the early 1990s became known as the X11 web colors.

Burnt umber

Burnt umber is made by heating raw umber, which dehydrates the iron oxides and changes them partially to the more reddish hematite. It is used for both oil and water color paint. At a hue of 9, it is classified as a red-brown.

The first recorded use of burnt umber as a color name in English was in 1650.^[4]

Wenge

Wenge refers to the distinctive color of the dark-colored wood that is the product of Millettia laurentii, a legume tree from Africa. At a hue of 9, it is classified as a red-brown.

Chestnut

Displayed at right is the color chestnut. At a hue of 10, it is classified as a red-brown.

Maroon

Displayed at right is the web color called maroon in HTML/CSS and it is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word marron, or chestnut.[4] "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown".

Smokey topaz

Displayed at right is the color smokey topaz. At a hue of exactly 15, it is classified as a red-brown or orange-brown. It can also be called a vermilion-brown.

This color was formulated by Crayola in 1994 as one of the colors in the Gem Tones set.

Cigar brown

Cigar brown is a brown shade resembling the color of

Desert sand

The color desert sand is displayed at right. At a hue of 19, it is classified as an orange-brown.

It may be publicly regarded as a deep shade of beige. It is a pale tint of a color called desert.

The color name "desert" was first used in 1920.^[7]

Dark brown

Dark brown is a dark tone of color brown. At a hue of 19, it is classified as a black-brown.

Beaver

Beaver is a shade of brown representative of the color of a beaver. At a hue of 22, it is classified as an orange-brown.

The first recorded use of beaver as a color name in English was in 1705.^[8]

The color "beaver" was formulated as one of the Crayola colors in 1998.

Etymologically, it's believed that the words "brown" and "beaver" ultimately stem from the same root word.^[9]

Cocoa brown

Displayed at right is the color cocoa brown. At a hue of 25, it is classified as an orange-brown.

Russet

Russet is a dark brown color with a reddish-orange tinge. At a hue of 26, it is classified as an orange-brown.

The first recorded use of russet as a color name in English was in 1562.^[10]

The name of the color derives from

Russet, a color of fall, is often associated with sorrow or grave seriousness. Anticipating a lifetime of regret, Shakespeare's character Biron says: "Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd / In russet yeas and honest kersey noes." (Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 1)

Buff

Buff is a pale yellow-brown color that got its name from the color of buffed leather.^[12] At a hue of 28, it is classified as an orange-brown.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, buff as a descriptor of a color was first used in the London Gazette of 1686, describing a uniform to be "A Red Coat with a Buff-colour'd lining".^[13]

Kobicha (Brown-nose)

The color kobicha (brown-nose) is displayed at right. At a hue of 28, it is classified as an orange-brown.

It is one of the

The name kobicha comes from the Japanese for the color of a type of kelp tea, but the word was often used as a synonym for a form of flattery^[16][17] in a curious parallel with the English usage brown nosing.

Sandy brown

Sandy brown is a pale shade of brown. Sandy brown is one of the

As its name suggests, it is a shade of brown which is similar to the color of some sands.

The color name sandy brown first came into use in 1987, when this color was formulated as one of the X11 colors, which in the early 1990s became known as the X11 web colors.

Peru

The web color Peru has a hue of 30, and is classified as an orange-brown.

This color was originally called Peruvian brown with the first recorded use in 1924 of Peruvian brown as a color name in English.^[18]

The color name was changed to peru in 1987, when this color was formulated as one of the X11 colors, which in the early 1990s became known as the X11 web colors.

Taupe

The color taupe is a representation of the average color of the fur of the French mole.^[19] At a hue of 30, it is classified as an orange-brown.

The color displayed at right matches the color sample called taupe referenced below in the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color.

The first use of "taupe" as a color name in English was in the early 19th century (exact year is not known).^[20]

Walnut brown

Walnut brown is a dark brown color; a representation of the color made from walnut hulls. At a hue of 30, it is classified as an orange-brown.

Chocolate

Wood brown is a color that resembles wood. At a hue of 33, it is classified as an orange-brown.

The first recorded use of wood brown as a color name in English was in Robert Ridgway's 1886 book Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists, Compendium of Useful Knowledge for Ornithologists.^[22] Ridgway further refined the details of its color coordinates in his 1912 publication Color Standards and Color Nomenclature.^[23]

The normalized color coordinates for wood brown are identical to fallow, camel and desert, which were first recorded as color names in English in 1000,^[24] 1916,^[25] and 1920,^[26] respectively.

Tan

Tan is a pale tone of brown. At a hue of 34, it is classified as an orange-brown.

The name is derived from tannum (oak bark) used in the tanning of leather.^[27]

The first recorded use of tan as a color name in English was in the year 1590.^[28]

Sepia

Sepia is a reddish-brown

The first recorded use of khaki as a color name in English was in 1848.[31]

Beige

Beige is a light tan color representative of the color of unbleached wool. At a hue of 60, it is classified as a yellow-brown.

Manhattan

Manhattan is a pale light grayish brown color.

See also

• Pantone 448 C
• Lists of colors

References

Bibliography

• Maerz, Aloys John; Paul, Morris Rea (1930). A Dictionary of Color. New York:
  OCLC 1150631
  .
• 長崎盛輝 [Nagasaki, Seiki] (2001). 日本の傳統色 : その色名と色調 [Traditional colors of Japan: their color names and tones] (in Japanese). Kyoto: Seigensha.
  OCLC 51110507
  .
• 日本色彩学会 [Color Society of Japan] (1985). 新編色彩科学ハンドブック [New Color Science Handbook] (in Japanese). Tokyo:
  OCLC 47432802
  .
• OCLC 768502
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• OCLC 630954
  .