Shades of brown can be produced by combining red, yellow, and black pigments, or by a combination of orange and black—illustrated in the color box. The RGB color model, that generates all colors on computer and television screens, makes brown by combining red and green light at different intensities. Brown color names are often imprecise, and some shades, such as beige, can refer to lighter rather than darker shades of yellow and red. Such colors are less saturated than colors perceived to be orange. Browns are usually described as light or dark, reddish, yellowish, or gray-brown. There are no standardized names for shades of brown; the same shade may have different names on different color lists, and sometimes one name (such as beige or puce) can refer to several very different colors. The X11 color list of web colors has seventeen different shades of brown, but the complete list of browns is much longer.
Brown colors are typically desaturated shades of reds, oranges, and yellows which are created on computer and television screens using the RGB color model and in printing with the CMYK color model. Browns can also be created by mixing two complementary colors from the RYB color model (combining all three primary colors). In theory, such combinations should produce black, but produce brown because most commercially available blue pigments tend to be comparatively weaker; the stronger red and yellow colors prevail, thus creating brown tones.
Displayed here are some common brown shades. Some of them are associated with (any of various types of) soil, rock, or vegetation and are thus also classifiable among the earth tones.
Red-brown (web color "brown")
The web color called "brown" is displayed as shown.
The historical and traditional name for this color is red-brown.
The color shown above at the top right at the head of this article (color #964B00) is the color normally and traditionally regarded as brown—a medium dark orange. Its h (hue) code is 30, which signifies a shade of orange. The color to the immediate right (color #A52A2A) that was chosen as the web color "brown"—a medium dark red—is the color traditionally called red-brown. That this color is a shade of red and not orange can be easily ascertained by inspecting its h (hue) code, which is 0, signifying a shade of red.
The first recorded use of red-brown as a color name in English was in 1682.
Brown (RYB)
Displayed at right is the color that is called brown in the RYB color model. It is an equal mix of red, yellow and blue.
Additional variations of brown
Rosy brown
Displayed here is the web color rosy brown. At a hue of 359, it is classified as a red-brown.
The color name rosy brown first came into use in 1987, when this color was formulated as one of the X11 colors, which in the early 1990s became known as the X11 web colors.
Burnt umber
Burnt umber is made by heating raw umber, which dehydrates the iron oxides and changes them partially to the more reddish hematite. It is used for both oil and water color paint. At a hue of 9, it is classified as a red-brown.
The first recorded use of burnt umber as a color name in English was in 1650.
Wenge
Wenge refers to the distinctive color of the dark-colored wood that is the product of Millettia laurentii, a legume tree from Africa. At a hue of 9, it is classified as a red-brown.
Chestnut
Displayed at right is the color chestnut. At a hue of 10, it is classified as a red-brown.
Maroon
Displayed at right is the web color called maroon in HTML/CSS and it is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word marron, or chestnut.[4] "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown".
Smokey topaz
Displayed at right is the color smokey topaz. At a hue of exactly 15, it is classified as a red-brown or orange-brown. It can also be called a vermilion-brown.
This color was formulated by Crayola in 1994 as one of the colors in the Gem Tones set.
Cigar brown
Cigar brown is a brown shade resembling the color of cigars.
Desert sand
The color desert sand is displayed at right. At a hue of 19, it is classified as an orange-brown.
It may be publicly regarded as a deep shade of beige. It is a pale tint of a color called desert.
The color name "desert" was first used in 1920.
Dark brown
Dark brown is a dark tone of color brown. At a hue of 19, it is classified as a black-brown.
Beaver
Beaver is a shade of brown representative of the color of a beaver. At a hue of 22, it is classified as an orange-brown.