Browner

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a deeper color tone than typical in the area above the eyes
2. characterizing a skin hue that is more intense in the forehead region
3. Exhibiting a skin or hair tone above the eyes that is noticeably more intense or darker than usual

Etymology: "Browner" is simply "brown" with the comparative ending "-er", so its story is really the story of the base word. "Brown" descends from Old English "brūn", meaning "brown, dark, dusky", which points to a sense closer to dim or shadowed than to the specific colour we picture today. The same root gave Dutch "bruin", German "braun" and Swedish "brun", and it reaches back to the Proto-Indo-European root "*bʰerH-", which is also the source of the Sanskrit "babhrú", a term for reddish-brown. The Greek "phrúnē", meaning "toad", belongs to the same family, a surprising relative for a colour word. Comparing "browner" with "brown" shows how the adjective gains its meaning: the comparative simply means more brown, so the form inherits the full history of "brown" while adding only the "-er" suffix that English uses for comparison.

Synonyms: darker, tan, suntanned, brunette, chocolate

Antonyms: lighter, whiter, paler, blonder, blanched