Russet
A dark brown with a reddish-orange tinge, once the colour of coarse English cloth
Russet is a dark brown with a reddish-orange cast, made by mixing orange and purple pigments. The name comes from a rough woollen cloth dyed with woad and madder, once worn by the poor in medieval England. Russet is linked to autumn and is often seen as a serious or sombre colour.
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- Russet is a dark brown with a reddish-orange tinge.
- The name comes from a rough wool cloth dyed with woad and madder.
- In 14th-century England, the poor were required to wear russet.
- Russet is often linked to autumn and sorrow.
What colour is Russet?
Russet is a deep brown shade with a hint of reddish-orange. It sits between brown and red on the colour spectrum and is made by mixing orange and purple. The tone is earthy and muted, not bright, and is often linked to the colours seen in autumn leaves. Russet stands apart from other browns by its subtle red and orange undertones, giving it a warm but subdued look.
Where does Russet come from?
The word 'russet' comes from a coarse woollen cloth that was dyed with woad (a blue plant dye) and madder (a red dye) to produce a greyish or reddish-brown colour. In 14th-century England, a law required poorer people to wear this cloth. The colour name first appeared in English in 1562. Over time, 'russet' has been used for a range of reddish-brown tones, and its exact shade can vary.
How Russet is defined
As a colour, russet is defined as an equal mix of orange and purple pigments. In its original form as cloth, the shade was created by dyeing wool with woad and madder. Today, russet is a standard term in colour dictionaries, but the exact tone can change depending on the context.
What Russet means
Russet is strongly linked to autumn and is often seen as a colour of sorrow or seriousness. In English culture, it has been used in literature to suggest regret or grave feelings, as in Shakespeare's 'Love's Labour's Lost'. The plainness of russet was also valued for its honesty, as seen in Oliver Cromwell's writing.
How Russet feels
Our sources tie Russet to sadness. Such links differ from one culture to the next.
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: B貌g貌lanfiniShades and relatives of Russet
Russet is sometimes confused with other reddish-brown shades like chestnut, chocolate, or sepia. The term itself has been used for a range of tones, and sometimes simply means 'ruddy' or 'reddish'. Its definition is not always precise, and it can refer to several similar colours.
Colours that go with Russet
Harmonies are worked out from the value #80461B. Contrast ratios follow the WCAG 2 formula.
Questions people ask about Russet
What colour is russet?
Russet is a dark brown with a reddish-orange tinge, made by mixing orange and purple pigments.
Where does the name 'russet' come from?
The name comes from a coarse woollen cloth dyed with woad and madder, once worn by the poor in medieval England.
What does russet stand for?
Russet is often associated with autumn and is linked to sorrow or grave seriousness in English culture.
When was russet first used as a colour name?
The first recorded use of russet as a colour name in English was in 1562.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Russet (color)", 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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