Meanings
- pluralplural onlyconsumer electronics equipment for entertainment, such as televisions and music centres
Electronics capabilities led to the emergence of a distinction between "white goods" (the typically enamelled kitchen appliances such as fridges and cookers) and "brown goods" (such as wood- or bakelite-cased record players, radios, and TVs).
1999, Miles, Ian, "Home Informatics: New Consumer Technologies, in eds. William H. Dutton et al., Society on the Line: Information Politics in the Digital Age, page 107 - pluralplural onlyunbleached cotton textiles
- pluralplural onlybeverage industryspirits which are brown in colour, such as whiskey
In the U.S., there has been a gradual shift from “brown goods” (darker colored drinks, such as whiskey and brandy) to “white goods” (lighter colored drinks, such as gin and vodka).
2012, Dwight B. Heath, “To every thing there is a season: When do people drink?”, in Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture, Routledge, →ISBN, page 35
Origin
From their colour. Consumer electronics equipment formerly had a brown wooden veneer.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Swedish hemelektronik, brunvaror
- hemelektronikconsumer electronics
- brunvarorconsumer electronics
Welsh nwyddau brown
- nwyddau brownconsumer electronics
Cite this entry
brown goods. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brown%20goods
“brown goods.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brown%20goods. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brown goods,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brown%20goods.
Source: brown goods on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.