tawny
Adjective Satellite
- of a light brown to brownish orange color; the color of tanned leather
Adj
- Of a light brown to brownish orange colour; orangey brown tinged with gold.
Verb
- To cause (someone or something) to have a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.
- To become a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.
Noun
- A light yellowish-brown color.
- A light brown to brownish orange colour.
- A light brown to brownish orange colour.
- Synonym of tenné (“a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown”).
- Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name).
- Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name).
- The common bullfinch or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).
- In full tawny port: a sweet, fortified port wine which is blended and matured in wooden casks.
- A fabric of a light brown to brownish orange colour.
- A person with skin of a brown colour.
- Tawny frogmouth.
- Tawny owl.
Adjective
- Of an orange-brown or yellowish-brown color.
Examples
- I found a way to use the word TAWNY, even if it didn’t score many points.
- The tawny tiles blended into the wooden board, almost unseen until played.
Origin / Etymology
The adjective is derived from Middle English tauni, tawne (“having a brownish-orange colour”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman taune, tawné, and Old French tané, tanné, tanney (“of a tan colour”), an adjective use of the past participle of taner (“to turn hide into leather, tan”), from tan (“pulped oak bark used to tan leather, tanbark”), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *tannos (“green oak”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)dʰnwos, *(s)dʰonu (“fir”).
The -aw- spelling (also -au- in Middle English) seems to have been due to the pronunciation of Old French tané.
The verb is derived from the adjective.
Cognates
* Breton tann
* Medieval Latin tannāre (“to dye a tawny color; to tan”)
* Old Irish caerthann (“rowan”)
Synonyms
tawny-brown, brownish, browny, brunneous, brunnescent, fulvid, fulvous, olivaster, subfuscous, swart, swartish, swarty, tenné
Scrabble Score: 11
tawny: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordtawny: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tawny: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary