What is the difference between tan and brown?

In transitive terms the difference between tan and brown

is that tan is to change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid.See Wikipedia article on Tanning. To work as a tanner while brown is to give a bright brown colour to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coating of oxide on their surface.

As nouns the difference between tan and brown

is that tan is a yellowish-brown colour while brown is a colour like that of chocolate or coffee.

As adjectives the difference between tan and brown

is that tan is of a yellowish-brown while brown is having a brown colour.

As verbs the difference between tan and brown

is that tan is to change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun while brown is to become brown.

As proper nouns the difference between tan and brown

is that tan is an English surname derived from the transliteration of various Asian surnames, particularly originating from China and Vietnam while Brown is {{surname|common|from=nicknames}.

As a numeral tan

is the second cardinal number two, formerly used in Celtic areas, especially Cumbria and parts of Yorkshire, for counting sheep, and stitches in knitting.See Wikipedia article on Yan Tan Tethera

As an initialism TAN

is Total Acid Number, the measure of a lubricant's or crude oil's acidity.

tan

Translingual

(wikipedia tan)

Symbol

(head)

A symbol of the trigonometric function tangent.

Synonyms

* (l) ----

brown

English

(wikipedia brown)

Noun

(en noun)

A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.

The browns and greens in this painting give it a nice woodsy feel.

(snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points.

Black tar heroin.

(sometimes capitalised) A person of Middle Eastern, Latino or South Asian descent; a brown-skinned person; someone of mulatto or biracial appearance

Adjective

(en-adj)

Having a brown colour.

(obsolete) Gloomy.

Antonyms

* (having brown as its colour) nonbrown

Descendants

* American Sign Language:

Verb

(en verb)

To become brown.

Fry the onions until they brown .

(cooking) To cook something until it becomes brown.

Brown the onions in a large frying pan.

To tan.

Light-skinned people tend to brown when exposed to the sun.

To make brown or dusky.

* Barlow

A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves, / Browns the dim void and darkens deep the groves.

To give a bright brown colour to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coating of oxide on their surface.

(Ure)

To turn progressively more Hispanic or Latino, in the context of the population of a geographic region.

the browning of America

Derived terms

(terms derived from "brown") * brown adipose tissue * brown ale * brown bastard * brown bear * Brown Bess * Brown Betty * brown-bill * brown bread * brown coal * brown dwarf * brown earth * brown falcon * brown fat * brown goods * brown hawk * brown lacewing * brown lung * brown mustard * brown note * brown paper * brown patch * brown rat * brown rice * brown rot * brown sauce * Brown Shirt * brown sugar * Brown Swiss * brown thrasher * brown trout * brown-bag * brown-bagger * browned off * brownfield * brownie * Brownie point * brownish * brownnose * brownout * brownprint * brownstone * embrown * golden brown * hash browns * meadow brown * nut-borwn * Vandyke brown