Tawne

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a yellowish-brown color like that of a lion's coat or dried leaves
2. Of a dull golden brown shade, the color of sun-darkened skin or weathered sand
3. Describing a warm, yellow-brown hue resembling tanned leather or ripened grain

Etymology: Tawny began as a word for leather. It comes from Anglo-French "tanné", "tanned", which English adapted by adding the suffix "-y". The root is "tan", the process of turning hide into leather with tannins, usually from oak bark. The colour was named for tanned leather, a warm yellow-brown, before it was applied to anything else. Later uses followed that colour. The tawny owl is named for its brown plumage, and tawny port is a wine aged in wood until it fades to an amber-brown, a colour name rather than a place name.

Synonyms: tawny, tan, brown

Antonyms: pale, white