brownie
noun
(in folklore) a tiny, fanciful, good-natured brown elf who secretly helps at night with household chores.
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brownie
American
[brou-nee]
/ ˈbraʊ ni /
noun
-
brownies
plural
-
(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.
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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.
brownie
1
British
/ ˈbraʊnɪ /
noun
-
(in folklore) an elf said to do helpful work at night, esp household chores
-
a small square nutty chocolate cake
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history a bread made with currants
Brownie
2
British
/ ˈbraʊnɪ /
noun
-
another name for Brownie Guide
-
(formerly) a popular make of simple box camera
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
Etymology
Origin of brownie
First recorded in 1520–30; brown + -ie; in folkloric sense, originally Scots
Vocabulary lists containing brownie
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“China gets a lot of goodwill brownie points throughout the region with what they’re doing with Cuba,” said Jorge Piñón, who studies Cuban energy at the University of Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
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
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
Stone, who was born on 13 June 1932 in Chelsea, began taking photographs aged 13 after his mother gave him a Box Brownie Kodak camera that cost two shillings and sixpence.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2024
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
Like the cartoon image of Brownie the Elf that fans voted to have painted at midfield last season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2023
The whole thing feels a little bit like a ceremony, like when I was in Girl Scouts and I went from Daisy to Brownie.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Bakers are juggling those cakes along with batters and oven schedules for scones, brownies, custom wedding cakes and other products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 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
"There's nothing for the kids, no clubs, no brownies or scouts," she says.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
Lunch with Lee featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted brownies.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2025
Sweet potato cheesecake and peanut butter brownies and white chocolate cookies and, of course, the delicious yellow cupcake with strawberry icing.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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.
