(in folklore) a tiny, fanciful, good-natured brown elf who secretly helps at night with household chores.
a small, chewy, cakelike cookie, usually made with chocolate and containing nuts.
Australian. a bread with currants, baked in a camp oven.
Sometimes Brownie a member of the junior division of the Girl Scouts or the Girl Guides, being a girl in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade and usually between six and eight years old.
(in folklore) an elf said to do helpful work at night, esp household chores
a small square nutty chocolate cake
history a bread made with currants
another name for Brownie Guide
(formerly) a popular make of simple box camera
What is a brownie? A brownie is a small, chewy chocolate cake-like dessert that often includes nuts, as in We loved Nana’s brownies so much that we begged her to make them for every party. In British folklore, a brownie is a tiny, brown elf that secretly assists with chores during the night, as in I once heard a fairy tale about a brownie who helped a cobbler clean his workshop. Example: The first thing I learned to bake was brownies, and I still love to bake them.
See fairy.
First recorded in 1520–30; brown + -ie; in folkloric sense, originally Scots
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At a trade show in February this year, Helene Godin pitched her bakery’s mini-Bundt cakes and brownie bites to some of the biggest supermarket chains in the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
“I took an Advil and served birthday cake, brownie, chocolate fudge.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
"I didn't really know what a cake or a doughnut or a brownie was until I started having after-school parties in California," she says.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
In fact, craving something sweet, I just grabbed a post-lunch packaged brownie from WSJ’s snack-food stash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Cotton leaned across the table to grab a brownie and said, “Hey, look! The wishbone!”
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
I joined a Brownie pack led by a woman I knew as Brown Owl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
She spent a week on and around that block, with Brownie and Marshmallow and a bag full of flyers about her husband.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 29, 2023
“And Brownie and his guys took two of ‘em.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
BBC Sport's Liam Loftus talks to Marketa Vondrousova at Wimbledon 2023 about her love for body art and her two pets, Brownie the pug and Frankie the sphynx cat.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2023
“They're not rats. Brownie is just visiting to bring me news about how—” He gulped down the rest of his sentence.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Packed with cookies, brownies, old-school sprinkle cakes or lemon drizzle, they are usually found in front gardens, on driveways or by the roadside.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
“As someone who loves brownies but cannot bake, this appeals as another way to get that sweet smell in the house.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Her boyfriend got it from BadAsh Bakes, the viral bakery based in Pasadena best known for its cinnamon rolls, cookies, brownies and layer cakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Lunch with Lee featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted brownies.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2025
The woman points down the hall toward tables piled with brownies and cookies.
From "Rules" by Cynthia Lord
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
