This is an accepted version of this page Shades of brown can be produced by combining red, yellow, and black[1] 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.

Browns are usually described as light or dark, reddish, yellowish, or gray-brown.

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.

Some of them are associated with (any of various types of) soil, rock, or vegetation and are thus also classifiable among the earth tones.

The web color called "brown" is displayed as shown.

[5] Wenge refers to the distinctive color of the dark-colored wood that is the product of Millettia laurentii, a legume tree from Africa.

Russet is a dark brown color with a reddish-orange tinge.

[12] The name of the color derives from russet, a coarse cloth made of wool and dyed with woad and madder to give it a subdued gray or reddish-brown shade.

By the statute of 1363, poor English people were required to wear russet.

Anticipating a lifetime of regret, Shakespeare's character Biron says: "Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd / In russet yeas and honest kersey noes."

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, buff as a descriptor of a color was first used in the London Gazette of 1686, describing a uniform to be "A Red Coat with a Buff-colour'd lining".

It is one of the Japanese traditional colors that has been in use since 660 AD in the form of various dyes used in designing kimono.

[16][17] The name kobicha comes from the Japanese for the color of a type of kelp tea, but the word was often used as a synonym for a form of flattery[16][17] in a curious parallel with the English usage brown nosing.

As its name suggests, it is a shade of brown which is similar to the color of some sands.

The first use of "taupe" as a color name in English was in the early 19th century (exact year is not known).

This version of the color raw umber has a hue of 33, and is classified as an orange-brown.

The first recorded use of wood brown as a color name in English was in Robert Ridgway's 1886 book Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists, Compendium of Useful Knowledge for Ornithologists.

The name is derived from tannum (oak bark) used in the tanning of leather.

[30] The first recorded use of tan as a color name in English was in the year 1590.