Broun

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. A Scots and archaic English form of the colour brown, the shade of earth, wood, or dark toasted bread
2. An old variant spelling meaning brown, referring to the dark earthy colour found in soil, timber, and roasted things
3. Archaic or Scottish spelling for the hue brown, the colour between red, yellow, and black found in soil and wood

Etymology: "Broun" is a variant spelling of "brown," so its story is the same as that of the more familiar form. Its earlier spellings reflect the older English habit of writing the vowel in various ways, and "broun" is one of the forms that appeared before modern spelling settled on "brown." Its adjective sense, dark earthy in hue, is the colour the word has carried for centuries, and it is the sense the spelling is used for.