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dun

UK/dʌn/ US/dʊn/ uncommon dated informal
noun (2) adjective (1) verb (4)

noun

1.
2.

a color varying around light grayish brown

  • “she wore a dun raincoat”
Synonyms

adjective

1.

of a dull grayish brown to brownish gray color

  • “the dun and dreary prairie”
Similar

verb

1.

treat cruelly

  • “The children tormented the stuttering teacher”
Synonyms
2.

persistently ask for overdue payment

  • “The grocer dunned his customers every day by telephone”
3.

cure by salting

  • “dun codfish”
4.

Origin

From Middle English dun, donn, dunne, from Old English dunn (“dun, dingy brown, bark-colored, brownish black”), from Proto-West Germanic *duʀn, from Proto-Germanic *duznaz, *dusnaz (“brown, yellow”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Cognate with Old Saxon dun (“brown, dark”), Old High German tusin (“ash-gray, dull brown, pale yellow, dark”), Old Norse dunna (“female mallard; duck”). Alternative etymology derives the Old English word from Brythonic (compare Middle Welsh dwnn (“dark (red)”)), from Proto-Celtic *dusnos (compare Old Irish donn and Scottish Gaelic donn (“brown”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰews- (compare Old Saxon dosan (“chestnut brown”)). More at dusk.

Phrases

  • Barnby Dun
  • Bridge of Dun
  • dun letter

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.