Brown
Earth itself: umber, sienna, sepia, khaki and the browns of wood, hide and soil. 81 colours written up on Rang so far.
What brown means, country by country
5 countries. The same colour, read differently.
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: BògòlanfiniBrown in the swatch book
122 named values.
#C88A65Antique bronze#665D1EBistre#3D2B1FBeaver#9F8170Blast-off bronze#A57164Blood red#660000Brown#964B00Brown sugar#AF6E4DCamel#C19A6BCafé noir#4B3621Café au lait#A67B5BChocolate (traditional)#7B3F00Coffee#6F4E37Copper red#CB6D51Coyote brown#81613CDark brown#654321Dark goldenrod#B8860BDark lava#483C32Dark liver (horses)#543D37Dark sienna#3C1414Desert#C19A6BFallow#C19A6BField drab#6C541EFrench beige#A67B5BFrench bistre#856D4DFuzzy Wuzzy#87421FGold Fusion#85754EGolden brown#996515Kobicha#6B4423Kobe#882D17Liver chestnut#987456Mahogany#C04000Metallic Sunburst#9C7C38Mode beige#967117Old burgundy#43302EOlive#808000Oxblood#4A0000Raw umber#826644Sandy brown#F4A460Rosewood#65000BRusset#80461BRust#B7410ESaddle brown#8B4513Seal brown#59260BSepia#704214Shadow#8A795DSienna#882D17Taupe#483C32Tenné#CD5700Umber#635147Van Dyke brown#664228Wood brown#C19A6BWindsor tan#A75502Xumo#413639Zinnwaldite brown#2C1608Liver (organ)#6C2E1FKurotobi黒鳶#351E1CKaracha唐茶#B35C44Sōdenkaracha宗傳唐茶#9B533FSuzumecha雀茶#8C4736Tobi-iro鳶色#4C221BKurumizome胡桃染#9F7462Kōrozen黄櫨染#592B1FKogecha焦茶#351F19Taisha-iro代赭色#9F5233Sencha-iro煎茶色#824B35Chōjicha丁子茶#8F583CBiwacha枇杷茶#AB6134Chōjizome丁子染#A96232Kitsune-iro狐色#985629Fushizome柴染#8C5939Kyara-iro伽羅色#6A432DSusutake-iro煤竹色#593A27Shiracha白茶#C48E69Ōdo-iro黄土色#BE7F51Kinsusutake銀煤竹#7D4E2DKobicha媚茶#6B4423Namakabe-iro生壁色#785E49Kitsurubami黄橡#BB8141Rikyūcha利休茶#826B58Higosusutake肥後煤竹#7F5D3BRokōcha路考茶#665343Mirucha海松茶#4C3D30Nataneyu-iro菜種油色#A17917Kimirucha黄海松茶#896C39Uguisucha鶯茶#5C4827Aokuchiba青朽葉#AA8736Hiwacha鶸茶#957B38Uguisu-iro鶯色#645530Yanagicha柳茶#9C8A4DRikancha璃寛茶#534A32Aikobicha藍媚茶#473F2DMiru-iro海松色#524B2ASensaicha千歳茶#3B3429Baikōcha梅幸茶#857C55Iwaicha岩井茶#5E5545Yanagisusutake柳煤竹#4D4B3AYanaginezumi柳鼠#817B69Pullman Brown (UPS Brown)#644117Sand dune#967117Nisemurasaki似せ紫#43242ABenikeshinezumi紅消鼠#44312EGinnezumi銀鼠#97867CSunezumi素鼠#6E5F57darkgoldenrod#B8860BSpanish bistre#807532Binrōjizome檳榔子染#352925olive#808000saddlebrown#8B4513sienna#A0522DTuscan brown#6F4E37Tuscan tan#A67B5BBistre brown#967117Tenné#C67000Olive Drab #7#3C341FRikyūshiracha利休白茶#B0927AAku-iro灰汁色#7F6B5DMummy brown#824B27Auburn hair#A52A2APantone 448 C#4A412A
#C3B091
Khaki
A light tan with a yellowish tinge, once made for military uniformsNamed shade · 🇮🇳 India +2
#F5F5DC
Beige
A pale, warm colour named after natural, undyed woolNamed shade · 🇫🇷 France +2
#D2B48C
Tan
A light brown shade named after oak bark used in leather tanningNamed shade · 🇺🇸 United States +1
#7B3F00
Chocolate
A deep brown shade that matches the look of milk chocolateNamed shade
#674C47
Liver
A dark brown shade seen in animal coats and named after the organNamed shade
#E5AA70
Fawn
A pale yellowish tan seen in fabrics and many dog breedsNamed shade
#D2691E
Chocolate (web)
A light brown named for the cocoa pod, not the sweet treatNamed shade
#F4A460
Sandy brown
A pale orange-brown named for the colour of some sandsNamed shade
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Beige: Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chocolate: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Liver: Rob Hanson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tan: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Khaki: Mehlauge, CC BY-SA 3.0, source