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brownie

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brownie¹

  • /ˈbɹaʊni/ US, UK

Rhymes with -aʊni

Where it comes from

From brown + -ie (diminutive suffix). In folkloric sense, originally Scots. For sense 7, compare with Dutch kabouter (“a very young female member of the scout movement”) (literally "gnome").

noun brownies

  1. countable, usually A small square piece of rich cake, usually made with chocolate. Order for the brownie was placed but it took half an hour to prepare it.

    Similar: chocolate brownie

  2. Australia, New Zealand, uncountable A sweet bread with brown sugar and currants. It was an amusing sight to see the three of us, each with a huge hunch of “browny” (bread sweetened with brown sugar and currants) in one hand, and a lump of ice in the other, for there was no water within reach.
  3. countable, uncountable A mythical creature, a helpful elf who would secretly do people's housework for them. Thus, offer Brownie a piece of bread, a cup of drink, or a new coat and hood, and he flouted at it, and perhaps, in his huff, quitted the place for ever ; but leave a nice bowl of cream, and some fresh honeycomb, in a snug private corner, and they soon disappeared, though Brownie, it was to be suppo
  4. countable, uncountable A copper coin, brown in colour; a penny, halfpenny, or cent. He rose and jingled in his pockets for change and drew out two brownies. He went and set one on each of Monroe’s eyes[.]
  5. countable, uncountable A household spirit or revered ancestor.
  6. countable, uncountable Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the Eurasian genus Miletus.
  7. countable, informal, uncountable A brown trout (Salmo trutta).
  8. countable, informal, uncountable A widow rockfish (Sebastes entomelas), a fish in the family Sebastidae. Depending upon the species, fishers may harvest along the ocean floor for many rockfish and other groundfish, while hake, pollock, and some rockfish species (i.e. greenies and brownies) are targeted with mid-water trawls.
  9. countable, uncountable Alternative letter-case form of Brownie (“a girl in the first level of Girl Guides (US: Girl Scouts)”).
  10. Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, countable, uncountable A tall, long-necked beer bottle, made from brown coloured glass.
  11. countable, ethnic, offensive, slur, uncountable A person with brown skin.

Brownie²

  • /ˈbɹaʊni/ US, UK

Rhymes with -aʊni

Where it comes from

From brownie (“a helpful elf”). Specifically, inspired by the story "The Brownies" by Juliana Horatia Ewing (published in 1870, The Brownies and Other Tales), in which two children, Tommy and Betty, learn that children can be helpful brownies or lazy boggarts. But compare with Dutch kabouter (“a very young female member of the scout movement”) (literally, a "gnome").

noun Brownies

  1. Australia, Canada, UK A junior Girl Guide. 1958 July 14, Boot by a Brash Brownie, LIFE, page 124, In Toronto young Brownies of the Girl Guides, the Canadian girl scouts, stood in parade formation with full-fledged Guides.

    Similar: Rosebud

  2. US A junior Girl Scout. 1952 March 24, Girl Scouts: They Are Observing Their 40th Birthday, LIFE, page 109, Any girl willing to follow the simple rules can join the Girl Scouts. As Brownies they will spend most of their time playing games and singing songs like the Brownie Smile Song: “I′ve something in my pocket; It belon

Brownie³

proper noun

  1. A nickname of the surname Brown.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: imp, hob, pixy, pixie, elf, gremlin, goblin, leprechaun, chocolate, bake, blondie, sheet cake, dessert bar, shortcake, chocolate bar, friedcake

Translations

Every language

noun small rich cake

日本語ブラウニー buraunī
中文布朗尼 bùlǎngní
Portuguêsbrownie
Françaisbrownie
DeutschBrownie
Italianobrownie
Românănegresă
Русскийбра́уни bráuni
Tiếng Việtma tốt
العربيةجنيَة سمراء صغيرَة

noun helpful elf

日本語ブラウニー buraunī
中文棕仙 zōngxiān
DeutschHeinzelmännchen
Русскийдомово́й domovój, бра́уни bráuni

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MLA

"brownie." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/brownie. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

brownie. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/brownie

Chicago

"brownie." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/brownie.

BibTeX
@misc{brownie_2026,
  title = {brownie},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/brownie},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}