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• brownie
  brownie

  noun

  (in folklore) a tiny, fanciful, good-natured brown elf who secretly helps at night with household chores.
• Brownie
  Brownie

  noun

  another name for Brownie Guide

brownie

American  

[brau-nee] / ˈbraʊ ni /

noun

• brownies
  plural

1. (in folklore) a tiny, fanciful, good-natured brown elf who secretly helps at night with household chores.

2. a small, chewy, cakelike cookie, usually made with chocolate and containing nuts.

3. Australian. a bread with currants, baked in a camp oven.

4. 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.

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brownie ¹ British  

/ ˈbraʊnɪ /

noun

1. (in folklore) an elf said to do helpful work at night, esp household chores

2. a small square nutty chocolate cake

3. history a bread made with currants

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Brownie ² British  

/ ˈbraʊnɪ /

noun

1. another name for Brownie Guide

2. (formerly) a popular make of simple box camera

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Usage

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.

Synonym Usage

See fairy.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• brownies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of brownie

First recorded in 1520–30; brown + -ie; in folkloric sense, originally Scots

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brownie Brownie brownies

As dusk gathers and the nightshift get ready for work with a strange breakfast of fillet steak and chocolate brownie pudding, the vessel begins to glow in the gloom.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

A new “protein boost” recipe for Conagra’s Duncan Hines chewy fudge brownie mix involves adding a cup of blended cottage cheese and a swirl of peanut butter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 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

"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

So Dwight ran off to grab another brownie and Cotton held the wishbone out to me.

From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor

They are third at the moment but if they are 17th come the end of May, which is where they finished under Brownie, then that will be a successful season.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

We had slogans and passwords, and made the Brownie promise: “I promise to do my best, to do my duty to God and the King, to help other people every day, especially those at home.”

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

You’ve worked on what I think of as “uncle episodes,” where the focus is on some of the elders like Uncle Brownie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2023

At the junk shop in town she spotted an old Brownie Starflex sitting in the corner of the front window.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

“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

"Everything's so uncertain. It's so unfair to be treated as a large business when we're selling a few brownies."

From BBC ● May 8, 2026

Black bean brownies fall into the category of things that sound like a joke until they aren’t.

From Salon ● May 5, 2026

The girl with the piercings set the plate of brownies on the table where the lemonade was.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon

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