The color brown (color brown in Latin America) , is a color often associated with neutrality, or with unpleasant emotions. It is a chromatic stimulus very present in nature, so it also has ambivalent meanings, as well as many different uses.

We will see below what the colour brown is, how it is known in different places and, in general, what the colour brown means according to the sensations and feelings it expresses.

The color brown: what it is and how it is obtained

While these are stimuli that are part of our daily environment, colours have been very present in our cultural development. For the same reason they play an important part in our psychological expressions: they manage to evoke different emotions and even perceptions about the objects around us, even without our being aware of it.

Specifically the brown color is obtained by mixing the three primary colors (usually using a little less blue and red, to avoid generating a grayish tone). In this sense is considered a tertiary color . Furthermore, as it is a mixture of different shades, it is considered a non-spectral colour, which is visually located at a wavelength between 580 and 620 nm.

The term “brown” is taken from the French “marron” which means “chestnut”, so it is the name by which this colour is known in many places in Europe. However, this colour is called differently depending on the geographical location.

In several places in Latin America it is known as the color “brown”, although when it comes to naming the hair tone, the term “chestnut” or “brown” is used. Another common way to name this color, according to the specific shade, is by the word “chocolate”, “cinnamon”, “mahogany” or “honey”, among others. Its oldest name is “brown” , and it received it for being a color present in the coat of the leopard.

What does the color brown mean?

In studies on colored psychology, brown usually generates negative or at least neutral responses . For example, in Clarke and Costall’s (2008) study with university students in Germany, 44% of the participants reported that coffee has very few, if any, emotional qualities. For their part, participants who related this color to a particular emotion added comments describing brown as “earthy” “muddy” “natural” or phrases such as “it doesn’t give me any feeling” and “I have nothing to say, it’s just coffee.

In the same sense, Manav (2007) finds that the color brown is related to insensitivity and a discouraged mood, or to boredom . In the same way, it is related to adversity and depression. In his study on colour preferences, brown is at the bottom of the scale.

For his part, the psychotherapist author of the Test of Colors, Max Lüscher (quoted by Rivera, 2001), described through his studies the color brown as a sensory and passively receptive color. However, this colour does not only indicate neutrality and bitterness, but, like all colours, can have an ambivalent meaning , which in this case is related to vigour, strength, solidarity, dignity and confidentiality.

In another study conducted with Mexican students, Rivera (2001) finds that the main descriptors of women about the color brown are “serious” “sad” “branch” “bears” “dark”, and in the case of men the main descriptors are “brown” “tobacco” “excrement” “life”. The common descriptors that the participants had are “earth”, “trunk”, “wood”, “tree”, “trunk”, “chocolate”, “serious”, “brick”, “ugly”, “pretty”.

In this sense, the same researcher concludes that the color brown is one of the colors that evoke objects and/or nouns (other colors are dark blue, green and yellow). Coffee also evokes qualifying adjectives (as well as pink, grey and orange), unlike other colours that evoke emotions, such as white, red, light blue and even black.

Cultural meanings

For her part, Eva Heller (2005) suggests that the combination of the colour brown with other colours can generate opposite effects on both a psychological and cultural level. For this author, on a psychological level, brown is related to the unpleasant, anti-erotic, unpleasant, vulgarity and foolishness .

Its accompaniment by the colour blue can evoke at the same time a spiritual and earthly symbolism, the translation of which can be of nobility and impunity. The opposite combination (brown-white) can evoke at the same time dirt and cleanliness. And its mixture with the colour black is indicative of evil.

On a cultural level, its meanings have been similar, since is related to the colour of autumn and wither , which is in turn the end of spring, a season more related to happy emotions. In the same sense, it usually represents what is old-fashioned and what becomes extinct, or also what gives the appearance of maturity and of being a classic. For the same reason it is colour that has been very present in the most recent modern aesthetics and clothing. In spite of this, according to Heller (2005) the colour brown tends to be more rejected as age advances, and is in fact the most rejected colour of all.

Main uses

The colour brown has been very present in the decoration on a daily basis, as it is the raw material for several pieces of furniture. Not only that, but is very present in nature . In this same sense, it is a colour that has been very present in cave paintings.

Brown, as well as black and red, are often used to generate dramatic effects in advertising and film, and can also be used strategically to make a place feel more welcoming. Especially when these colours do not mix with each other.

On a political level, brown is usually used on local or provincial flags, although at some point it was associated with Nazism, as it was used by the storm troopers. During the Middle Ages it was associated with servitude, because of the colour of the clothes when they were not very dyed . For the same reason it has been traditionally understood as antagonistic to elegance.

Bibliographic references:

  • Clarke, T. and Costall, A. (2008). The Emotional Connotations of Color: A Qualitative Investigation. Color Research and application, 33(5): 406-410.
  • Heller, E. (2004). Psychology of colour. How colours act on feelings and reason. Editorial Gustavo Gili: Spain.
  • Llorente, C. (2018). Comparative analysis of chromatic symbolism in advertising. Nike in China and Spain. Vivat Academica. Journal of Communication, 142: 51-78.
  • Manav, B. (2007). Color-Emotion Associations and Color Preferences: A Case Study for Residences. Color Research and Application, 32(2): 145-151.
  • Parodi Gastañeta, F. (2002). Chromosemiotics. The meaning of colour in visual communication. Recovered September 17, 2018. Available at http://200.62.146.19/bibvirtualdata/publicaciones/comunicacion/n3_2002/a07.pdf.
  • Rivera, M. A. (2001). Perception and meaning of color in different social groups. Revista Imagen, 53: 74-83.