tawny

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tauny, also tawne,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman tauné,^[5][6][7][8] a variant of Old French tané (“dark brown, tan”), later tanné.^{[2][9][5][10]} Many dictionaries treat the Old French word as the past participle of taner (“to tan hides”), from Medieval Latin tannō, the source of tan;^{[9][6][5][3][4]} others derive it directly from the Old French noun tan.^{[2][10][8][11]} The OED says that the English spelling with “au” or “aw” appears to reflect the nasalized vowel of the Old French pronunciation, comparing pawn and aunt.^[2][12] Ayto traces the Latin verb to tannum (“oak bark”), probably a borrowing from Gaulish tanno- (“oak”),^[7] and Etymonline to a Celtic source such as Breton tann (“oak tree”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a brownish-orange colour: the Middle English Dictionary's first quotation is from the wardrobe accounts of Edward III (1345–49), of tawny belts.^[3] Etymonline likewise says the mid 14th century, while the OED starts from Langland's Piers Plowman (1377) and Barnhart from probably before 1387.^[5][2][6] As a surname the word is older: late 13th century in Etymonline,^[5] and the Anglo-Norman noun tanné is recorded from about 1276.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The word began by naming the brownish yellow of tanned leather,^[5][6][7] and for a long time it covered several shades of brown.^[10][14] The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, says that it notes many shades, from pale ochre to swarthy brown, and that the lion has about the average tawny colour.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave it as "yellow, like things tanned".^[15] As a noun it meant the colour, from 1375 in the Middle English Dictionary,^[3] and cloth of that colour, from 1416 to 1587 in the OED.^[2] In heraldry the colour is the same as tenné.^[2][10] A sweet drink was named after its colour about 1430.^[2][3] In colonial British English the noun could be a brown-skinned person, from 1660 in the OED and the 1650s in Etymonline;^[2][5] the use is archaic and derogatory,^[10] and it survived in Scots and Irish dialect.^[16] In Wiltshire and Somerset a tawny was a bullfinch,^[16][2] named after the colour of the female.^[2] A short-lived verb, to make tawny or to tan, is found from 1602 to 1613.^[2] The noun has also meant tawny port since 1929, in J. B. Priestley.^[2]

Timeline

• 1345–49 – adjective, of a brownish-orange colour.^[3]
• 1375 – noun, the colour tawny.^[3] Etymonline says the mid 14th century.^[5]
• 1416 – cloth of a tawny colour (obsolete by 1587).^[2]
• c. 1430 – a sweet drink named after its colour.^[2][3]
• 1660 – a brown-skinned person.^[2] Etymonline says the 1650s.^[5]
• 1847 – a local name for the bullfinch.^[2]
• 1929 – tawny port.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a light brown to brownish-orange colour: The cat's tawny coat blended into the dry grass.^[17][10][18]

Noun

1. A light brown to brownish-orange colour; in heraldry, tenné.^[17][18][2]
2. A port wine of this colour; tawny port.^[2][10]
3. (dialect) The bullfinch.^[2][16]
4. (archaic) A brown-skinned person.^[2][10][18]
5. (obsolete, 1416–1587) Cloth of a tawny colour.^[2][10][3]
6. (obsolete) A sweet tawny drink.^[2][3]

Word family

• tawniness
• tawnily
• tawny owl

Related words

• tan
• tannin
• tenné

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
14. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster