tawny

CEFRB2

/ˈtɔːni/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Light brown or orange in color.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    To become a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.

Examples

  • What color is your urine: bright, tawny, reddish or golden brown?

  • Tawny owls are highly territorial.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈtɑ-/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. To cause (someone or something) to have a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.

  2. Of a light brown to brownish orange colour; orangey brown tinged with gold.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A light brown to brownish orange colour.

More examples

In context

  • The VVooſell cock, ſo blacke of hevve, / VVith Orange tavvny bill, / The Throſtle, vvith his note ſo true, / The VVren, vvith little quill.

  • And if any of your nation attempte once to ſtoppe me in my iorney now towards Calais, […] I in my defence ſhall colour and make red your tawny ground with the effuſion of chriſtian bloud: […]

  • [P]erhaps they metamorphose themselves into a tawny squirrel that scampers away and mocks you from the topmost bough.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The lion's blank coat helped it hide in the dry golden savanna grass.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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...