brownie - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From brown +‎ -ie (diminutive suffix). In folkloric sense, originally Scots.^[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹaʊni/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊni
• Hyphenation: brown‧ie

Noun[edit]

brownie (countable and uncountable, plural brownies)

2. (usually countable, cooking, originally US)^[2] A small square piece of rich cake, usually made with chocolate. [from 1897]^[3][2]

   • 2000, Lori Gottlieb, Stick Figure: a diary of my former self, page 173:

     […] if she ever found out she was dying, she'd just eat brownies all day and night until the very end.

   • 2000, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, “The Visible Man”, in The First Paper Girl in Red Oak, Iowa and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 197:

     Rona served Althea coffee with yellow milk curdling in the center, and a hunk of brownie, and Althea said, “Thanks so much.”

   • 2005, Aaron Lazare, On Apology, unnumbered page:

     On a Saturday afternoon, my wife bought her favorite treat for dessert that evening, a gourmet, nut-filled brownie.

   • 2005, Steve Otto, Memoirs of a Drugged-Up, Sex-Crazed Yippie, page 228:

     After cooking the brownies until we could smell the pot, we each ate a large brownie.

   • 2015, Lynsay Sands, The Immortal who Loved Me, London: Gollancz, →ISBN, pages 224–225:

     “If she has to list everyone from school friends to teachers, this is going to take a while, huh?” Stephanie commented, slipping a generous slice of brownie onto a plate. […] She carried a plate with a slice of brownie around and set it in front of Basil, […]

   • 2017, Cressida McLaughlin, The Once in a Blue Moon Guesthouse, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 37:

     As their coffee and cakes arrived – Tim had opted for a slice of brownie that looked about as impressive as the table – she noticed that the initials TL were inscribed on his cufflinks, and also, confirming what Molly had told her, that he had no ring on the fourth finger of his left hand.

3. (uncountable, cooking, Australia and New Zealand) A sweet bread with brown sugar and currants.^{[4][5][6][2][1]} [from 1883]

   • 1883, James Edge Partington, “A Race Meeting in the Bush—A Graphic Though Ungallant Picture—Life on an Australian Stock Farm—[…]” (chapter VII), in Random Rot. A Journal of Three Years’ Wanderings about the World., Altrincham: […] [T]he Guardian Office, page 312:

     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.

   • 1890, E[lphinstone] Davenport Cleland, “‘The Shaking’ Mallee Tree”, in The White Kangaroo. A Tale of Colonial Life. Founded on Fact., London: Wells Gardner, Darton, & Co.,[…], page 57:

     They rode quietly along to the stockman’s hut, gave their message, rested their horses for half-an-hour, and had some tea without milk, and a piece of cake made of flour, fat, and sugar, commonly known as [“]browny.”

   • 1890 September 20, M. Hirst Browne, “Shearing-Time in the Riverine”, in The Argus, number 13,804, Melbourne, Vic., page 13, column 6:

     Four o’clock, “Smoke O!” again, and more tea and “brownie” (a bread sweetened with sugar and currants).

     See Also

     Can I use butter instead of vegetable oil when baking brownies from a mix?Passion for Brownies NationwideWhat's the Difference Between Cakey Brownies and Fudgy Brownies?origin of ‘Brownie’ (Girl Scout or Girl Guide)

   • 1892, Gilbert Parker, “Glimpses of Australian Life: In Time of Drought”, in Round the Compass in Australia, Melbourne, Vic., […]: E[dward] W[illiam] Cole,[…], part I, page 36:

     Roast mutton and brownie are given us to eat, and with a billy of tea beside us we are comfortable enough, prisoners and all.

   • 1900, Henry Lawson, “‘A Rough Shed’”, in On the Track, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson,[…], page 129:

     Pile of “brownie” on the bare black boards at the end of the table.

   • [1908], Jeannie Gunn, chapter XXIII, in We of the Never-Never, London: Hutchinson & Co.[…], page 251:

     Undoubtedly our Christmas dinner was a huge success—from a black fellow’s point of view it was the most sensible thing we Whites had ever organised; for half the Vealer, another huge pudding, several yards of sweet currant “brownie,” a new pipe apiece, and a few pounds of tobacco had found their way to the “humpy”; […]

   • 1959, W[illiam] E[dward] (Bill) Harney, “Of crocodiles and stars”, in Tales from the Aborigines, London: Robert Hale Limited,[…], part one (Tales of Fantasy), page 40:

     As he spoke I tossed some tea into a billy-can of boiling water and as we sipped at our pannikin of tea and ate at a slice of brownie, old Mirawong told me the story of Manbuk and the seven sisters of the heavens.

   • 1959, H[arold] P[ercival] ‘Duke’ Tritton, Time Means Tucker, Arncliffe, N.S.W.: Akron Press, published 1984, →ISBN, pages 58–59:

     However, a couple of days later, I was passing near Old Jim’s camp and he called us over for a mug of tea and a hunk of brownie.

4. (countable)
   2. (folklore) A mythical creature, a helpful elf who would secretly do people's housework for them. [from 1510s]^[3][7]

      • 1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 169:

        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 supposed, never knew any thing of them.

      • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 5:

        "Oh, auntie, do you know what Stine says?" cried a little brown-eyed beauty; "she says I shall go with her into the hayloft to-night and give the brownie his Christmas porridge."

      • 1908, Dinah Craik, The Adventures of A Brownie‎^[1]:

      • 1985, The Encyclopedia Americana, volume 1, page 636:

        Stories were told of a brownie riding horseback to fetch the midwife at childbirth or helping his master to win at checkers.

      • 2004, Justin Hocking, Jeffrey Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher, editors, Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End, page 37:

        There are no brownies in my house, though. I know because there's always a pile of dishes in the sink.

   3. (paganism) A household spirit or revered ancestor.
   4. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the Eurasian genus Miletus.
   5. (informal) A brown trout (Salmo trutta).
   6. (informal) A widow rockfish (Sebastes entomelas), a fish in the family Sebastidae.

      Coordinate term: greenie

      • 2007, R. Quentin Grafton, Harry W. Nelson, Bruce Turris, “How to Resolve the Class II Common Property Problem? The Case of British Columbia's Multi-Species Groundfish Trawl Fishery”, in Trond Bjørndal, Daniel V. Gordon, Ragnar Arnason, U. Rashid Sumaila, editors, Advances in Fisheries Economics: Festschrift in Honour of Professor Gordon R. Munro, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, page 61:

        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.

        See Also

        Cookies, brownies and muffins cut our great British bakes
   7. Alternative letter-case form of Brownie (“a girl in the first level of Girl Guides (US: Girl Scouts)”).
   8. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A tall, long-necked beer bottle, made from brown coloured glass.
   9. (ethnic slur, offensive) A person of Arab, Indian or Hispanic descent. Sometimes used for a Native American or Pacific Islander.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Chocolate brownie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Brownie (folklore) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Miletus (butterfly) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Brown trout on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Widow rockfish on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English brownie.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /bʁo.ni/, (Quebec) /bʁaw.ni/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun[edit]

browniem (plural brownies)

1. brownie (type of small chocolate cake)

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English brownie.

Noun[edit]

browniem (definite singular brownien, indefinite plural browniar, definite plural browniane)

1. brownie (type of small chocolate cake)

Polish[edit]

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

brownie

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English brownie.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈbraw.ɲi/
• Rhymes: -awɲi
• Syllabification: brow‧nie

Noun[edit]

brownien (indeclinable)

1. brownie (small rich cake)

Further reading[edit]

• brownie in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• brownie in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English brownie.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

browniem (plural brownies)

1. brownie (type of small chocolate cake)

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English brownie.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾauni/ [ˈbɾau̯.ni]
• Rhymes: -auni

Noun[edit]

browniem (plural brownies)

1. brownie

Usage notes[edit]

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Derived terms[edit]

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