auburn

A1U1B3U1R1N1
US/ˈɔ.bɚn/cot caught merger/ˈɑ.bɚn//ˈɔːbə(ɹ)n/

noun

A dark reddish-brown colour, often used to describe hair colour.

CommonScrabble 8

Meanings

auburn1

nounauburn (countable and uncountable, plural auburns)

plural auburns

  1. countableuncountableA dark reddish-brown colour, often used to describe hair colour.

    Synonyms: redbrown, abram

adjectiveauburn (comparative more auburn, superlative most auburn)

comparative more auburn · superlative most auburn

  1. Of a reddish-brown colour.

    I never thought I'd meet a girl like you / Meet a girl like you / With auburn hair and tawny eyes

    1982, “I Ran (So Far Away)”, performed by A Flock of Seagulls
    2 more examples

    All were watching somebody in the garden with deep interest, their three faces close together: a jovial and round one, a pale one with dark hair, and a fair one whose tresses were auburn. “Don’t push! You can see as well as I,” said Retty, the auburn-haired and youngest girl, without removing her eyes from the window.

    1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXI, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC

    […]; nor was Miss Wilkinson the ideal: he had often pictured to himself the great violet eyes and the alabaster skin of some lovely girl, and he had thought of himself burying his face in the rippling masses of her auburn hair.

    1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XXXIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC

    Synonyms: cupreous

Auburn2

proper noun
  1. A female given name.
  2. A number of places in the United States.
    1. A sizable city in Lee County, Alabama.
    2. A city, the county seat of Placer County, California.

      The outage area continues to expand, stretching from Granite Bay, Newcastle, Loomis, and Auburn across Folsom Lake to Cool, and north through Colfax into Lake of the Pines.

      2026 June 20, Erin Heft, “Massive PG&E power outage leaves approximately 61,000 customers in the dark across Placer County”, in KCRA, archived from the original on 20 Jun 2026
    3. A home rule city in Logan County, Kentucky.
    4. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Auburn Township.
  3. abbreviationellipsisinformalEllipsis of Auburn University.

    On Sept. 19, Brilyn Hollyhand, Auburn freshman studying political science, announced his plans to join forces with Turning Point USA (TPUSA) to launch his “One Conversation at a Time” college campus tour.

    2025 September 25, Tripp Hedden, “Brilyn Hollyhand announces campus tour with Turning Point USA”, in The Auburn Plainsman, archived from the original on 03 Oct 2025

    Synonyms: Aubum

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA dark reddish-brown colour, often used to describe hair colour.

adjectiveOf a reddish-brown colour.

Similar

proper nounEllipsis of Auburn University.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

adjective(of hair) colored a moderate reddish-brown

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinalbus“white”
  2. Medieval Latinalburnus“whitish”
  3. Old Frenchauborne
  4. Middle Englishaubourne
  5. Englishauburn

Early Modern English auburn (“brown, reddish brown”) from Middle English aubourne, abron, abroune, abrune (“light brown, yellowish brown, blond”), alteration (due to conflation with Middle English brun (“brown”)) of earlier auborne (“yellowish-white, flaxen”) from Old French auborne, alborne (“blond, flaxen, off-white”) from Medieval Latin alburnus (“whitish”), from Latin albus (“white”). More at albino, brown.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian кестеняв цвят, кестеняв
  • кестеняв цвятreddish-brown
  • кестеняв (kestenjav)reddish-brown
Chinese Mandarin 赤褐色
  • 赤褐色 (chìhèsè)reddish-brown
Czech kaštanový
  • kaštanovýreddish-brown
Danish kastanjebrun, kastanjerød
  • kastanjebrunreddish-brown
  • kastanjerødreddish-brown
  • kastanjebrunreddish-brown
  • kastanjerødreddish-brown
Dutch kastanjebruin, kastanjebruin
  • kastanjebruinreddish-brown
  • kastanjebruinreddish-brown
Esperanto ruĝbruna
  • ruĝbrunareddish-brown
Estonian punakaspruun
  • punakaspruunreddish-brown
Finnish kastanjanruskea, kastanjanruskea
  • kastanjanruskeareddish-brown
  • kastanjanruskeareddish-brown
French roux, auburn
  • rouxreddish-brown
  • auburnreddish-brown
  • rouxreddish-brown
  • auburnreddish-brown
German Rotbraun, Kastanienbraun
  • Rotbraunreddish-brown
  • Kastanienbraunreddish-brown
  • kastanienbraunreddish-brown
  • rotbraunreddish-brown
  • rötlichbraunreddish-brown
Greek καστανοκόκκινο, καστανέρυθρο
  • καστανοκόκκινο (kastanokókkino)reddish-brown
  • καστανέρυθρο (kastanérythro)reddish-brown
Indonesian merah pirang
  • merah pirangreddish-brown
Italian biondo rame
  • biondo ramereddish-brown
Japanese 赤褐色
  • 赤褐色 (sekikasshoku)reddish-brown
Malay perang kemerah-merahan, perang kemerah-merahan
  • perang kemerah-merahanreddish-brown
  • perang kemerah-merahanreddish-brown
Māori urukehu, kōkōwai
  • urukehureddish-brown
  • kōkōwaireddish-brown
  • urareddish-brown
Norwegian Bokmål kastanjebrun
  • kastanjebrunreddish-brown
Persian بور
  • بور (bur)reddish-brown
Portuguese castanho-avermelhado, castanho avermelhado
  • castanho-avermelhadoreddish-brown
  • castanho avermelhadoreddish-brown
Romanian roșcat-cafeniu, roșcat-cafeniu
  • roșcat-cafeniureddish-brown
  • roșcat-cafeniureddish-brown
Russian кра́сно-кори́чневый, тёмно-ры́жий
  • кра́сно-кори́чневый (krásno-koríčnevyj)reddish-brown
  • тёмно-ры́жий (tjómno-rýžij)reddish-brown
  • кра́сно-кори́чневый (krásno-koríčnevyj)reddish-brown
  • тёмно-ры́жий (tjómno-rýžij)reddish-brown
Spanish castaño, castaña
  • castañoreddish-brown
  • castañareddish-brown
  • castañoreddish-brown
  • bermejoreddish-brown
Swedish kastanjebrun
  • kastanjebrunreddish-brown
Tamil செம்பட்டை
  • செம்பட்டை (cempaṭṭai)reddish-brown
Turkish kumral, kumral
  • kumralreddish-brown
  • kumralreddish-brown
Welsh coch-frown
  • coch-frownreddish-brown
Cite this entry
APA

auburn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auburn

MLA

“auburn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auburn. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “auburn,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auburn.

Source: auburn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.