Brindle
A striped coat pattern found in dogs, cattle, cats, guinea pigs and rare horses
No single value: Brindle is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, brown.
Brindle is a pattern of irregular stripes, usually black on a red or brown base, seen in the coats of many animals such as dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats, and rarely horses. The pattern comes from the way two pigments, eumelanin and phaeomelanin, are expressed in the animal's fur, with genes creating a subtle, tiger-like appearance.
- Brindle is a subtle, streaked pattern, not a single colour.
- It is common in dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, and cats, but rare in horses.
- Brindle stripes are caused by the distribution of two natural pigments.
- A rare heritable form in horses was identified as Brindle1 in 2016.
- The word comes from a root meaning 'marked by burning'.
What colour is Brindle?
Brindle is a coat pattern seen in several animals, marked by irregular stripes or streaks. Most often, these stripes are black or dark brown on a red, brown, or yellowish background. The look is sometimes called 'tiger-striped', but the effect is softer and less regular than a tiger's coat. Brindle can appear in dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats (especially tortoiseshell and some tabby cats), and, very rarely, horses. The pattern stands out for its subtle, streaked look, which can be hard to spot from a distance.
Where does Brindle come from?
The word 'brindle' comes from Middle English, related to 'brended', meaning marked as if by burning or branding. This sense comes from the old word 'brennen', to burn. The pattern itself is caused by a complex genetic process called mosaicism, where some cells express one gene and others a different one. In horses, a rare heritable form called Brindle1 was identified in American Quarter Horses in 2016.
How is Brindle made?
Brindle is not a pigment or dye, but a pattern created by the way two natural pigments, eumelanin (black or brown) and phaeomelanin (red or yellow), are distributed in an animal's coat. The genes that control these pigments interact to create the striped effect. In horses, the pattern can be caused by chimerism (two sets of DNA in one animal) or by specific inherited genes.
Where Brindle is used
Brindle is valued in animal breeding, especially in dogs and guinea pigs, for its unique appearance. In dogs, it can replace the tan in tricolour coats or combine with other patterns like merle. In guinea pigs, breeders aim for an even mix of black and red hairs. In horses, the pattern is rare and often noted for its striking look, with some historic examples preserved in museums.
Brown around the world
What the brown family means from country to country.
Brown is the colour of Nazism in German political speech, after the brown shirts of the party's stormtroopers. To call a view "brown" is to call it far right.
Politics and protestDanger and warningShameSource: SturmabteilungMasi is bark cloth beaten from paper mulberry and printed in brown and black. It is worn at weddings and funerals and given in ceremonial exchanges.
Sacred and holyWeddings and marriageSource: Tapa clothKuntunkuni is a dark brown mourning cloth of the Asante, dyed with tree bark. Adinkra cloth, stamped with symbols, was first made on such dark grounds for funerals.
Mourning and deathSadnessSource: Adinkra symbolsThe batik of the Javanese courts at Yogyakarta and Surakarta is dyed in soga brown with indigo and cream. Some court patterns were once reserved for the royal family.
Royalty and powerPrideSource: BatikBogolanfini, or mud cloth, is cotton painted with fermented river mud in browns, black and white. Hunters wear it for protection, and women after childbirth.
Protection and healingSacred and holySource: BògòlanfiniShades and relatives of Brindle
Brindle can be confused with tricolour or merle patterns in dogs, and with tortoiseshell or tabby in cats. In dogs, a similar pattern with brindle points is called 'trindle'. In horses, the pattern can appear over many base coat colours, such as bay, chestnut, palomino, or dun. The stripes can be lighter or darker than the base.
Questions people ask about Brindle
What colour is brindle?
Brindle is a pattern of irregular dark stripes, usually black or brown, over a red, brown, or yellowish base. It is not a single colour but a mix of two pigments in the animal's coat.
Where does the name brindle come from?
The name comes from Middle English 'brended', related to 'brennen', meaning to burn. It refers to something marked as if by branding or burning.
Which animals can have brindle coats?
Brindle patterns appear in dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats (especially tortoiseshell and some tabby cats), and, very rarely, horses.
Is brindle a colour or a pattern?
Brindle is a pattern, not a single colour. It is made up of stripes of dark pigment over a lighter base, created by the way two pigments are distributed in the fur.
How is brindle inherited?
Brindle is caused by a complex genetic process called mosaicism. In horses, a heritable form called Brindle1 was found in American Quarter Horses, with an X-linked, semidominant inheritance.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Brindle", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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