Brown vs. Ebony — What's the Difference?

Brown is a composite color. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is made by combining red, black, and yellow, or red, yellow, and blue.

Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, which also contains the persimmons. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water.

Of a colour produced by mixing red, yellow, and blue, as of dark wood or rich soil

Heavy blackish or very dark brown timber from a mainly tropical tree.

Dark-skinned or suntanned

A tree of tropical and warm-temperate regions which produces ebony.

Brown colour or pigment

Any of various tropical Asian or African trees of the genus Diospyros.

A brown thing, in particular the brown ball in snooker.

The wood of such a tree, especially the hard black heartwood of D. ebenum or certain other species, used in cabinetwork and inlaying and for piano keys.

A satyrid butterfly, which typically has brown wings with small eyespots.

The hard dark wood of various other trees.

Another term for coloured (sense 2 of the noun)

The color black; ebon.

Make or become brown, typically by cooking

Made of or suggesting ebony.

Any of a group of colors between red and yellow in hue that are medium to low in lightness and low to moderate in saturation.

Black in color.

Of the color brown.

(uncountable) A hard, dense, deep black wood from various subtropical and tropical trees, especially of the genus Diospyros.

Having a brownish or dark skin color.

(countable) A tree that yields such wood.

Often Offensive Of or being a person of nonwhite origin.

A deep, dark black colour.

Deeply suntanned.

A black key on a piano or other keyboard instrument.

To make or become brown.

Made of ebony wood.

To cook until brown.

A deep, dark black colour.

A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.

Dark-skinned; black; especially in reference to African-Americans.

One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points.

A hard, heavy, and durable wood, which admits of a fine polish or gloss. The usual color is black, but it also occurs red or green.

(uncountable) Black tar heroin.

Made of ebony, or resembling ebony; black; as, an ebony countenance.

A copper coin.

A very dark black

A brown horse or other animal.

Hard dark-colored heartwood of the ebony tree; used in cabinetwork and for piano keys

A person of Latino, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent; a brown-skinned person; someone of mulatto or biracial appearance.

Tropical tree of southern Asia having hard dark-colored heartwood used in cabinetwork

(entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of subfamily Satyrinae (formerly the family Satyridae).

Very dark black

(entomology) Any of certain species of nymphalid butterflies of subfamily Satyrinae, such as those of the genera Heteronympha and Melanitis.

(informal) A brown trout (Salmo trutta).

A mass of birds or animals that may be indiscriminately fired at.

Having a brown colour.

(obsolete) Gloomy.

(sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.

(US) Latino

(of Asians) South Asian

(of East Asians) Southeast Asian

(intransitive) To become brown.

To cook something until it becomes brown.

To tan.

(transitive) To make brown or dusky.

(transitive) To give a bright brown colour to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coating of oxide on their surface.

To turn progressively more Hispanic or Latino, in the context of the population of a geographic region.

Of a dark color, of various shades between black and red or yellow.

A dark color inclining to red or yellow, resulting from the mixture of red and black, or of red, black, and yellow; a tawny, dusky hue.

To make brown or dusky.

To make brown by scorching slightly; as, to brown meat or flour.

To give a bright brown color to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coat of oxide on their surface.

To become brown.

An orange of low brightness and saturation

Scottish botanist who first observed the movement of small particles in fluids now known a Brownian motion (1773-1858)

Abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1858)

A university in Rhode Island

Fry in a pan until it changes color;

Of a color similar to that of wood or earth