(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
A brownie that picks a lane and commits: dense and structured, deeply bittersweet and finished with a sharp hit of salt.
From Salon • Apr. 28, 2026
I always love to have a decaf espresso with dessert, which is either a brownie sundae or banana pudding.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 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
“That’s true form, perfect brother. The Great Peacemaker. You rack up brownie points with Mom and maintain the image of the perfect son.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
