brun
/bʁœ̃/
The French word brun means dark brown, often used to describe hair or skin.
In French, brun is a dark brown color frequently used to describe hair or skin tones. If you use it as a noun to describe a person, un brun refers to a dark-haired man and une brune refers to a dark-haired woman. You can also modify the shade by adding clair for light brown (brun clair) or foncé for dark brown (brun foncé).
Which one should you use?
While brun can refer to the color brown, it is most commonly used for hair color or skin tone. For inanimate objects such as clothes or the color of eyes, the word marron is more common.
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Use the feminine form brune for feminine nouns, the masculine plural form bruns for masculine plural nouns and the feminine plural form brunes for feminine plural nouns.
How do you pronounce it?
/bʁœ̃/
Did you know?
- The French word brun is a linguistic cousin to the English word 'brown', as both descended from the Proto-Germanic word *brūnaz.
- In French literature and poetry, calling someone's eyes bruns is often used to create a romantic or melancholic mood, even though people say marron in daily life.
- While brun describes hair, French uses the word marron for the color of eyes, which is actually the word for the 'chestnut' tree.
Examples in context
- L'arbre est brun foncé en automne.The tree is dark brown in autumn.
- Elle a les cheveux bruns et les yeux marron.She has brown hair and brown eyes.
- brun comme du chocolatBrown like chocolate
Example conversation
Manon and Nathan are talking about a new coworker.
- ManonComment est le nouveau collègue ?What does the new colleague look like?
- NathanIl est grand et brun.He is tall and brown-haired.
- ManonEst-ce qu'il ressemble à Nathan ?Does he look like Nathan?
- NathanOui, ils ont les mêmes cheveux brun.Yes, they have the same brown hair.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry brun, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
