auburn

Auburn may be described as hair that is of a reddish-brown color. The word "auburn" comes from the Old French word alborne, which meant blond, coming from Latin word alburnus ("off-white"). The first recorded use of auburn in English was in 1430.^[1][2] The word was sometimes corrupted into abram, for example in early (pre-1685) folios of Coriolanus, Thomas Kyd's Soliman and Perseda (1588) and Thomas Middleton's Blurt, Master Constable (1601).^[3]

The chemical pigments that cause the coloration of auburn hair are frequently pheomelanin with high levels of brown eumelanin. Auburn hair is reasonably common among people of northern and western European descent, but it is rare elsewhere.

Color

The color auburn is a reddish brown color similar to chestnut, though auburn is more on the red side while chestnut is on the brown. The two are sometimes used interchangeably, but auburn hair is more pigmented, and chestnut hair is often referred to as "chestnut brown". In describing hair color, "auburn" is frequently misused as a synonym for darker shades of red hair, such as "titian".

Auburn

Auburn
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#A52A2A
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(147, 39, 36)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(2°, 76%, 58%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

On the right is displayed the color auburn. This shade of auburn represents the color of people's hair that is most vivid.

Auburn in human culture

Kurdish children in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq; the child on the far left having auburn hair.

Auburn hair occurs most frequently in the phenotypes originating in Northern Europe for example, Scandinavia, Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, the Benelux countries, France, Poland, and Russia. This hair color is rare further south and southeast, but can occur in Southern Europe and North Africa, Lebanon, west Syria, Palestinian territories, Jordan, Northern Iran, Central Iran, and sometimes Central Asia. Because of migration from Europe from the 16th to the 20th centuries, it can also be found in other parts of the world such as North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Siberia, etc. This hair color is also dominant in Australia, Canada and the United States among descendants of the Northern European (English, Scottish, Irish, German, Scandinavian, Polish, and Russian) immigrants. Auburn hair is also found in smaller numbers in Latin America, especially southern Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. In Argentina and Uruguay, today, auburn hair is quite common but it was very rare at the time of Independence from Spain. Auburn hair in Latin America is common among descendants of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and Northern European (German, Scandinavian, British, Polish, and Russian) immigrants. This color is sometimes seen among the indigenous people of Formosa, but not the later Han Chinese immigrants.

Auburn hair is mostly associated with a fair complexion and light eye colors (blue, gray, green, and hazel). However, there are many auburn-haired people with brown eyes.

In the 21st Century United States of America, the color that was chosen by the American Council on Education (ACE) to represent such fields of learning as forestry, environmental studies, and natural resource management is called "russet",^[4] but in actual practice, colleges, universities, and suppliers of academic regalia use a very similar tint of "auburn" color.^[5][6]

See also

Color portal

• Brown hair
• Red hair
• Blond hair

References

External links

• Online Etymology Dictionary