tawny

American  

[taw-nee] / ˈtɔ ni /

Sometimes tawney

adjective

tawnier, comparative tawniest superlative

1. of a dark yellowish or dull yellowish-brown color.

---

noun

tawnies plural

1. a shade of brown tinged with yellow; dull yellowish brown.

tawny British  

/ ˈtɔːnɪ /

noun

1. 1. a light brown to brownish-orange colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      tawny port

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tawniness
  noun
• tawnily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tawnies
  plural

Adjectives

• tawnier
  comparative
• tawniest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of tawny

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English tauny, from Anglo-French taune, from Middle French tané, past participle of taner “to tan”; see tan ¹

Explanation

A color adjective, tawny describes something that is a mix of yellow, orange, and brown colors. A lion has a beautiful tawny coat. Tawny comes from the Anglo-Norman word, taune, which means tanned. Although you might think first of sun tans, which do indeed produce tawny colors in light-skinned people (as long as they don't go straight to lobster red), tan first meant the bark of an oak tree, used to cure leather. It's from the look of tanned leather that we get skin tans and the word tawny.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tawny tawnies tawnier

Folan would often describe her early years of marriage and motherhood, in an idyllic white house in a tawny Connecticut suburb, as looking blissful on the surface.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

Then, moments later, there she is again: Exiting the White House, coolly lethal in sunglasses, stilettos and a funnel neck MaxMara coat the color of a tawny marmalade.

From Salon ● Nov. 9, 2025

Raised in Fife, with its tawny beaches and sleepy fishing villages, a career in music was a distant dream.

From BBC ● May 30, 2025

The young tawny cougar with the broad, handsome features headed east for nearly 50 miles to escape his father, wandering through whatever green spaces he could find “and probably more than few backyards,” Pratt said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024

A large tawny owl soared down to Neville Tongbottom and deposited a parcel into his lap — Neville almost always forgot to pack something.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

The line includes an excellent Douro Reserve for just a few dollars more and some outstanding new ports, a white port and 10-, 20- and 30-year-old tawnies.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 8, 2020

The owls were flying directly at the Burrow, three handsome tawnies, each of which, it became clear as they flew lower over the path leading up to the house, was carrying a large square envelope.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

The fronts of the houses are of all imaginable pale tints,—stone colors, pinks, greens, greys, and tawnies.

From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851 by Various

The sauce is a touch spicier and tawnier in color than King’s but basically the same.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2016

Soon after the tawnier russets, like Egremont and the excellent Laxton's Superb, are being harvested.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 14, 2011

The stars have zero chemistry here, but they'd be ideal co-hosts for a 4 a.m. infomercial on tauter abs and tawnier tans.

From Time Magazine Archive

She rarely rode otherwise than bare-headed, and the high-rolled masses of her hair had grown tawnier and redder for that reason.

From The Law of the Land by Hough, Emerson

From E. u. fremonti, the subspecies from the mountains of western and northwestern Wyoming, E. u. montanus differs in: General tone of upper parts lighter; hairs around outermost edge of tail tawnier.

From Taxonomy of the Chipmunks, Eutamias quadrivittatus and Eutamias umbrinus by White, John A.